The Forgotten One
by gbllama
Summary: What if, when Mia Fey was murdered, there was a third lawyer working at Fey and Co Law Offices? Meet Rebecca Moore, a rookie defence attorney who had been working for Mia for two years before a new employee was hired. Little did she know that he was the one who would change everything.
1. Prologue

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Prologue

**A/N: Hi, I apologise in advance for my terrible writing, I know that this could easily be WAY better but I'm afraid you're stuck with me as your storyteller so you're just gonna have to deal with it. I love the Ace Attorney games SO much and have recently had a few ideas floating around in my head for a fanfiction so...here I am. Hope you enjoy! :)**

Who am I, you ask? I am the forgotten one.

The one that no one bothered to remember or even acknowledge. The one who kept to herself and didn't let anyone know what she had done. The one who has stayed hidden in the shadows while Phoenix Wright became famous all over California.

Even though I had been a significant help to him, I avoided the limelight because all I had done was what I was payed to do. Bring justice and find the truth. And even though Phoenix was the one in charge of that case, he couldn't have done it without my input. If it wasn't for me, he would never have become the legend that he is today.

I don't hate him for it because one of us had to take the glory that came with solving the case of Mia's death and I gave it up without hesitation since I didn't wish to be known throughout the city as a 'hero' or a 'turnabout king' or any other of those stupid names the media has come up with to describe him.

I know what you're thinking, 'How is this person related to Phoenix Wright? How do they even know him?' Well, the answer to those questions is fairly simple.

...I was a colleague of his, before our boss was murdered.

See, you never knew that I existed, did you? Had no idea that it wasn't just Phoenix and Mia working at Fey and Co Law Offices? No? Didn't think so.

And, just like that, my point has been proven. I AM the forgotten one, the one no one ever knew about. The one who didn't get any fame or glory or recognition from solving that case, just kept everything bottled away and got on with my own life and career.

The one everybody forgot, until now.

**A/N: Huh, this didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would be. I'm actually pretty proud of this short prologue thing and I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The next chapter will definitely be longer and should be up within the next two weeks. See you then!**

**Gaby :)**


	2. A New Arrival

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi, I hope you enjoyed the prologue of this story because here I am with another update! This chapter is MUCH longer than the prologue was and I hope to make more chapters like this one in the future but I can't promise anything, it just depends how busy I am. Anyway, on with the story!**

_(5 YEARS EARLIER)_

I glanced at all of the paperwork on my office desk with a heavy sigh. Great, just great. I was already exhausted from yet another long, tiring day at the office but I knew that I had to get through it all before my boss returned otherwise she would NOT be pleased. It was moments like this that made me wonder why I became a lawyer in the first place.

With another sigh, I began to slowly organise all of the crumpled pages until I had made a single neat pile. Then, I started working my way down to the bottom of the pile, placing each individual piece of paper into its correct case file, just as I had been instructed to do.

One agonisingly boring hour later, I was FINALLY finished and collapsed back into my cozy leather chair with a relieved sigh.

(There, that should please the chief. Hey, you know, she should be back soon with our new recruit for the office. I wonder what sort of person they're gonna be...hopefully as nice as Mia is. I'll have to try to be a good role model for them and not mess around in the office like I usually do though...)

I giggled a little at that thought as I recalled all of the times that I had pulled pranks on my unsuspecting boss.

Honestly, I'm surprised that Mia hasn't fired me yet with all of the things that I have done. I enjoy having a bit of laugh so I have occasionally pulled a few pranks on my boss like switching the sugar used for making tea and coffee and stuff for salt, the chief's reactions were HILARIOUS! I just wanted to make the workplace around me more fun and the jokes I occasionally play aren't intended to harm or anger anyone but sometimes even I know that I've gone too far, especially when my pranks have ended up being unintentionally played on important clients. Oops.

(Maybe it's because I'm her only employee and she doesn't have the heart to get rid of me, I have been working for her for almost two years after all, I've probably started to grow on her. But that may change now that this other person...whateverhisnameis...is here. I'll have to be on my best behaviour)

As thoughts clouded my mind of how to help out when the new lawyer arrived, my eyes were drawn to the bookshelves holding past case files which had clearly not been tidied for a long while. Despite my exhaustion, I decided to help the chief out a little bit more, for once.

I pulled all of the files out from their shelves and carefully placed them back in alphabetically. I know that Mia had been meaning to do this herself for a while now but she had never seemed to have gotten the time or energy to do it, since she always seemed to have tough cases on her hands. Around half an hour later, my arms were killing me from carrying all of the huge files but I had finally finished. I turned around to look at my hard work with a proud, triumphant smile.

(FINALLY! Whew, all done. That should show her that I'm not such a bad employee after-)

I was interrupted from my train of thought by a sharp knock on the door, which I instantly recognised as Mia's.

(Okay, they're back now, this is it. Time to meet this mystery new dude, whoever he is..)

As I thought about what this person waiting outside the office could possibly be like with a sudden sense of curiosity, I recalled some information that the chief had told me about the new employee. She had said the day before that he was recently out of law school and was a couple of years younger than I was. She had said that he was an old acquaintance of her's from one of her first ever law cases. He was apparently a very promising lawyer and the fact that he would be working for Fey &amp; Co. Law Offices would 'teach me some valuable lessons'.

(She probably means my pranks and the fact that I can't cope sometimes when we've got a tough case) I thought while quickly brushing down my white pencil skirt and rearranging my long brown hair, making it fall loosely down my back in waves. I was determined to make a good impression. I wasn't going to look like a fool in front of this new guy before I had even met him, he'd probably hate me if I did and the last thing I want is a bad relationship with my own colleague.

After taking one last quick glance in the mirror and pulling my light green jacket back over my shoulders, I reached for the door handle.

(Okay, here goes nothing..)

With that, I swung the door open to reveal the familiar, kind face of my boss and the unfamiliar, shy face of the guy standing behind her.

"Hi Chief, welcome back!"

"Hello Becs, did you finish that paperwork that I told you to do?" Mia asked as she made her way back into the office, the new employee close behind her.

Me and Mia had become quite good friends as well as colleagues so we had given each other nicknames instead of calling ourselves by our full names; I had insisted that that was too sophisticated for me and wanted her to call me by a shorter name, since the chief was practically my best friend and I spent almost everyday with her. I truly feel privileged to have such a good, comfortable relationship with the woman who is meant to boss me about all day and annoy the life out of me; it's nice to know that my boss is actually a nice person.

(Heh, you'll be surprised at this Chief..)

"Yup, all done. Every last little bit. I even put all of your files back in alphabetical order for you." I replied proudly, closing the door behind them.

"Oh, well do- wait, really? You tidied my files up, neatly?" Mia asked, genuinely shocked.

(Am I really THAT bad? Wow, thanks Chief, way to dampen my spirits...)

Before an awkward silence could kick in, I quickly nodded in response to Mia's question.

"Thank you so much Becs. See, you can be a good employee when you want to be!" She joked, causing me to laugh subconsciously.

(...I REALLY need to do more around here, don't I?)

The man behind her quietly stifled a light chuckle in the background, causing our attention to immediately be drawn to him. Seeing that he had been noticed, he quickly straightened himself up and cleared his throat.

(You think that's funny, do you? Why you little-) I tried my hardest to stop my sudden feeling of anger from showing on my face. The stranger seemed to notice, however because his face froze instantly and he swiftly hid his eyes with his hand in order to avoid my gaze. Luckily, the chief's focus was elsewhere so she didn't see what was going on. I breathed a short sigh of relief.

(Thank God, if she'd seen, she'd have been on me in an instant.)

"Oh," Realising that she had momentarily forgotten about him, Mia directed her attention to the man in the blue suit who was still standing behind her, now looking quite embarrassed. "Becs, there's someone that I would like you to meet. He's going to be joining us here at the office."

Trying to hide the blush that was starting to spread across his cheeks, the man with the awesome looking, black spiky hair stepped forward so he was in line with Mia and extended his hand out to me. "Hi, n-nice to meet you, m-my name is Phoenix Wright." He blurted out, stuttering a little as he did so.

I was slightly taken aback by this but took his hand all the same and returned his handshake with a friendly smile, trying not to force it. "Rebecca Moore, it's nice to meet you Mr Wright. Welcome to the office!"

"It's g-great to be here."

Mia then proceeded to show Phoenix around the office, assigning him to the spare desk in the corner of the room and then making her way to her own desk to make a few phone calls to clients in upcoming trials, leaving him standing around aimlessly as if he had no idea what to do with himself now that he was here. I decided to take this opportunity to learn a bit more about my new colleague.

(I know exactly how he feels right now, in a new place with people you don't know, that feeling is very familiar to me. He did make fun of me a bit earlier but that doesn't mean that I should just ignore him when he is clearly uncomfortable right now. Besides, he is going to be working with me so it would be a good idea to learn a bit more about him.)

Cautiously, I walked up to what was now his desk so that I could speak with him. However, as soon as he had seen me, his eyes widened, making him look like a rabbit that had been caught in a pair of headlights.

(Oh yeah, I must have frightened him a bit earlier when I glared at him, oops. I'd better show him that I'm not going to hurt him..)

I held my hands up in a surrendering position to assure him that I meant no harm. I probably looked really stupid but I honestly didn't give a damn. My relationship with this dude meant more to me than a few seconds of embarrassment. Upon seeing my comical attempt to calm him down, he breathed a little sigh of relief and chuckled slightly at me. I smiled in return as I put my arms down and started asking him some questions.

"So, Mr Wright, how did you come to know the chief? I heard from her that you two have met before?

"Yeah, I, uh, met her in the c-court. She defended me once a few years ago when I was, um, accused of killing a fellow college student." I noticed that he was fidgeting nervously as he spoke, scratching the side of his face and keeping his eyes glued to the floor.

"Oh, really?"

As I started ask more questions, however, Mr Wright clearly started to feel more comfortable with talking to me and appeared to be feeling more welcome in the office. His stuttering gradually reduced and, before either of us knew it, he'd stopped completely.

He explained to me in incredible detail the story of how he met Mia. It was in her second trial ever as an attorney when he was accused of killing a student at his university. She had gotten him an acquittal (of course, how could I expect anything else of the greatest attorney in know?) and gotten the real killer, who just so happened to be Mr Wright's girlfriend at the time, arrested for the crime.

"She was what inspired me to become a lawyer in the first place, and now I'm working for her. I can't believe that I have the opportunity to work for such an amazing woman."

(She is pretty awesome...)

"Yeah, I thought the same when I first started working here. I had heard about Mia in the news, about how she had gotten so many people free from murder charges, theft charges, assault charges, everything. And when she approached me a few months after I had passed the bar exam and asked me if I would like to come to work with her at her office, well, I couldn't say no! And now, here I am, two years later, still here, looks like she hasn't gotten sick of me yet!"

(...Although, that could easily change, now that she's hired you...)

"And have you taken on cases before?"

"A few cases of theft, an occasional murder, that kind of thing. All the big, serious cases like mass murders and stuff go to the Chief; I can't handle cases like that yet because I need some more experience, at least that's what she says. I think that I can handle some harder work but, what the boss says is law, I guess."

A smile tugged at Phoenix's lips at that, making my own face spread into a small grin. It pleased me that I was getting along well with my new colleague.

(Well, he clearly doesn't think I'm a total asshole, which is good. And he actually seems like quite a nice person, hopefully we'll get along well)

I continued smiling for a few moments before adding, "You'll have to get used to it too, you know. The Chief won't cut you any slack just because you're the newbie."

"Yeah, I know but, I think I'll be ok. I mean, she can't be THAT strict, can she?"

I deliberated over this for a moment, trying to think of a response that would both be honest and reassure Mr Wright. Seeing an opportunity, I decided to have a bit of fun with him and make him figure out the answer for himself. I waited for a few more seconds before looking back at him, a sheepish grin plastered across my face.

"Well..."

"Heh, that's not very reassuring, is it?" Phoenix commented before laughing again, however this time it was louder and sounded more natural.

My face returned to normal as I replied. "Nah, don't worry Mr Wright, it's not that bad around here. Chief is actually really nice and not that strict, she can be at times but that's only when she's got a REALLY good reason to be."

"Please, just call me Phoenix, Mr Wright is too formal. It's ok if I call you Rebecca, isn't it?"

(That's precisely what I said to Mia, someone else agrees with me! Yes!)

"Um, why are you suddenly grinning and pumping your fists in the air?"

(Oh god, what the hell are you doing? He's going to think you've gone crazy or something!)

Embarrassed, I swiftly brought my hands back down to my sides and started laughing nervously.

"Oh crap, sorry. I was just, heh, thinking about how I had said something similar to, um, Chief when I first came here. Th-That's why she calls me Becs." I spluttered, a blush beginning to form around my cheeks. "I-I don't mind you calling me that too, if you want." I added with a smile.

Phoenix gave a short nod of agreement. "Sounds like a plan."

"Okay, good. Well, I've got some work I need to be getting on with, the Chief will kill me if I don't get on with it so..." I started to walk away from his desk but before I was out if his sight I called to him over my shoulder. "I'll see you later Phoenix, I enjoyed getting to know you a bit better!" As I disappeared into around the corner to my own desk I heard his reply,

"See you...Becs."

**A/N: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and first insight into Rebecca's life before Mia's death. If you have any suggestions as to how I can improve this, please review this story or PM me. Even if you don't have any recommendations, reviews are still very much appreciated. Thanks, see you in two weeks!**

**Gaby :)**


	3. A Familiar Face

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Chapter 2

_**A/N: Hello dear readers, I am back with another chapter! Sorry it's so late I just haven't had the time to write recently so couldn't finish this off in time unfortunately. My update schedule should be back to normal now though so I should be able to get another chapter up within two weeks. For now though, here's another instalment!**_

I entered my apartment that night with a wide grin on my face that I hadn't been able to get rid of since I left the office. I was very pleased with how my day had gone, specifically meeting Phoenix. Even though I had made a fool of myself a bit, okay, A LOT, he still seemed to like me and be willing to work alongside me and the Chief.

(I think I made a good first impression today, I'm proud of myself. I hope that he liked me and didn't think that I was too weird...no, I don't think he would just judge me like that after only meeting me once, well I hope he wouldn't anyway..)

My attention was suddenly drawn to my white phone on my bedside table since it was now lit up and vibrating profusely, sending me a signal that someone was calling me. I lifted it off the surface and perched myself on the edge of my bed to answer it. Seeing the caller ID, I smiled a little before pushing the small green button and pressing the phone to my left cheek.

"Hey Chief, how's it going?"

"Hello Becs, are you still ok for our weekly meal out tonight?" Came the cheerful voice from the other end of the line.

"Yeah, of course I am. When have you ever known me to turn down food?"

"Haha, good."

Tonight was mine and the Chief's weekly meal out; we always had one to have a talk about non-work stuff and basically have a good time together. We took in turns paying each week in order to make it fair and this week was the Chief's turn, making it also her turn to choose where we ate.

(I hope she chooses somewhere nice because I am really hungry tonight. Knowing the Chief though, she won't disappoint;she never does, luckily.)

I was snapped back out of my thoughts as the voice on the other end of the line spoke again.

"I hope you don't mind, but my sister wanted to come along..."

"No, not at all. You're sister is, Maya, right? I met her once before at the office's New Year's Party, she seemed nice."

"Yeah, that's the one. Oh and, since this is the first time that I have seen her in a while and it was my turn to choose the place we ate at this week, I let her choose. And...she chose the local burger joint, she has been insisting that I take her out for burgers for months now but I just haven't had the time. Is that ok with you?"

"Yeah of course, I LOVE burgers, it's all good!"

"Haha, you and Maya would get along really well!" Mia giggled a little from the other end of the phone.

Her words reassured me slightly. "Well, I'm looking forward to meeting her again then."

"When we get there though, there is...something that I need to talk to you both about."

"...Okay, what is it?"

"...I...can't say. I-I'll tell you at the restaurant."

"Ok then Chief, see you soon!"

Mia said a quick goodbye in return before I ended the call and replaced my phone onto its assigned place on my wooden bedside table. I was intrigued by what the Chief had just said to me and had it on my mind for quite a while.

(Hmm, I wonder what she was talking about, and why was it so important that she couldn't tell me over the phone? Interesting.)

I laid on my back, supported by the soft green covers and mattress of my double bed, deep in thought. Time passed swifter than I thought it would and before I knew it, it was a mere 20 minutes until I was due to meet Mia and Maya.

(Dammit! I'm going to be late; I'd better hurry up!)

Rushing to my wardrobe, I yanked a pair of my light blue jeans and a plain white t-shirt from their hangers and changed into them as fast as I possibly could. I quickly made my way over to my mirror in the corner of my slightly untidy bedroom and ran my brush through my hair. Hurriedly, I made sure that it was all straight and untangled before pulling it all into a loose side ponytail draped over my left shoulder.

(There, ready. And with plenty of time to spare too, I still have 15 minutes left to get to the burger restaurant. Man, I'm good!)

As I smiled to myself, pleased that I had gotten ready in time, I grabbed my work jacket from where it laid on my bed after I had gotten changed mere minutes ago and draped it over my shoulders. I picked up my phone, slipped it into my jeans pocket and with that, I exited my apartment once more and set off in the direction of the restaurant where Mia and Maya were waiting for me.

...…...

The delicious aroma of burgers on a grill filled my nose as I entered the restaurant, making my mouth start to water in anticipation of my upcoming meal.

(Ooh, those burgers smell so good! Can't wait to have one myself!)

I glanced around the tables for a few seconds, searching for the familiar faces of my boss and her sister until, sure enough, I spotted Mia waving to me from a table in the corner of the room. Upon noticing her, I smiled and returned the wave before making my way over to them and taking the spare seat in between the two sisters.

"Hi Chief, nice to see you!" I announced with a cheerful smile on my face.

"Hey Becs, you too." Her facial features reflected my own as her eyes moved down to my ponytail. "Your hair looks really nice like that you know, you suit it." She replied, instantly noticing my change in hairstyle.

"Oh, thanks. Thought I'd try something new but now that I know it looks alright, I might wear it like this more often."

"You should, it would be a nice change."

I smiled back at her as I finally noticed her own outfit. Her hairstyle hadn't changed at all since work earlier that day. Her outfit on the other hand, was completely different and in a good way too. Instead of her usual short black dress and jacket, she was wearing a bright white skater-style dress that came down to her knees. It had a black sash that ran around her waist and came together at a large bow at the bottom of her back. She had also traded her regular white work shoes for some black stilettos that added a few extra inches to her usual height.

In short, she was looked pretty, really pretty.

(I swear, she's only complimenting me so that I don't feel inferior. And here I was, thinking that we were coming wearing casual clothes..)

"You look amazing yourself Chief, I love that dress. It looks so good on you."

Her smile widened slightly. "Aw, thanks, thought I'd change up my look a bit."

"Well, it's definitely a change that paid off."

We both kept smiling until I eventually noticed the other person sat at the table. She also had a grin on her face and was watching us with a great deal of interest. She looked vaguely familiar to me and it only took me a few moments to remember back to the office New Year's party when I last saw her.

(Hmm...I wonder if she knows who I am. I have changed quite a bit over the past 5 months so I won't be surprised if she doesn't recognise me. Luckily, she looks exactly the same, with that unusual hairdo and her spiritual acolyte clothes. I still can't get over what she can do, it's incredible the amount of power that she's got...Ok, snap out of it Becs, she's staring at you like you're crazy, you need to say something, ANYTHING..)

"Um.. H-Hi Maya, do you remember me?"

She shot me a confused look for a second but then sat back further in her seat and placed one hand to her chin. She sat like that for a moment, deep in thought. Then, realisation struck.

"Oh yeah, I remember you! I met you last year didn't I? You're name is...Rebecca, right?"

(Wow, she actually remembered me, didn't think that I was that memorable)

"Yup, that's right. I'm glad you remember me."

"How could I forget? You work with my sister, after all. Plus, you seem to be good friends with her and any friend of hers is a friend of mine! That's how it works, right?" She replied with a grin plastered on her face. I couldn't help but smile right back at her; she was so full of life that her friendly, giddy grin was infectious.

Mia, who was watching and listening in on our conversation, suddenly broke in with a small smile. "Yes, of course Maya. Oh, and also..."

She paused for a second as she looked back at me with a slight smirk before reverting her gaze back to her sister. "...did I tell you that Becs here absolutely LOVES burgers?"

"WHAAAAAAAAT?! Wooooohoooooo, I'm not the only one anymore!"

Her voice completely caught me off guard and surprised me so much that I almost fell off my chair in shock.

(Holy cheeseballs Maya, I'm only sat a few metres away from you, no need to shout! Geez!)

"Yay!" She did a little celebratory dance in her seat, pumping her fists in the air and clapping her hands together in joy.

However, after noticing that me and Mia were staring at her in confusion, she quickly recomposed herself and put her palms together before bowing slightly in her seat. "Hehehe, sorry guys. I kind of got...a little excited."

"Yeah, just a little Maya." Mia grinned at her younger sister, amused by her silliness. I must admit, I also found her reaction a bit humorous too and couldn't help but chuckle softly at her antics.

"Well, it's just that...other people, y'know, like you Sis, enjoy eating burgers too but, this is the first time that I've met someone who actually loves them as much as I do!"

She then reached across the table and grabbed my hand, catching me off guard for a second time. My eyes widened as she started shaking it vigorously, narrowly missing the edge of the table. "It's a pleasure to see you again, my fellow burger fanatic."

As she shook my hand with an unbelievable amount of energy and strength that I would never have expected from a girl like her with her small stature, I noticed that she was staring right at me in wonder, like I was some kind of famous celebrity in her eyes; some kind of god that she worshipped or something insane like that. The look that she had plastered on her face was priceless and I couldn't help but laugh out loud at her.

(This girl is crazy! But...in a good way, similar to me, actually. The Chief was right, I do think that I'll get along well with her little sister.)

My laughing and Maya's hand shaking were both abruptly interrupted by a clearing of the throat of the other person seated at our table. Upon her sister's interference, Maya quickly unwrapped her fingers from her surprisingly tight grip on my hand and sat up straight once more on her seat.

"Um, sorry Sis. I'll calm down now."

She actually looked quite guilty for what she had done, even though it had made all three of us laugh out loud and had lightened the mood in here a little.

"Don't look like that Maya. If it makes you feel any better, I found what you were doing just now absolutely hilarious." I smiled reassuringly at her in an attempt to cheer her up a bit. After a short moment, she returned my smile as she glanced back up at me, life returning to her dark brown eyes.

"Thanks Becky, um...I, can call you that, can't I?

"...I don't see any harm in it."

"Ok, cool."

A moment of silence passed by the three of us until I recalled what Mia had said to me on the phone and decided to bring it up in order to break the increasingly awkward silence surrounding us.

"So Chief, what did you mean on the phone earlier, that important thing that you wanted to tell me about?"

Maya perked up even more upon hearing this, seeming to find interest in it. "Ah yeah, now that you mention it Becky, she said something similar to me too, what was it all about, Sis?"

Mia's eyes widened in shock and she quickly leaned across the table towards us, her finger to her lips. "Shhh, be quiet guys! We need to be careful, you never know who may be watching us!"

"Um...what?"

(So she told her sister as well? Hmm...I wonder...)

"So, you wanted us both to know? But why us?" I inquired, speaking my thoughts.

"Because...I trust you two more than I trust anyone and I know that I can rely on you to help me out with this."

"With what Chief? Oh come on, just tell us goddammit! The suspense is killing me!"

"Yeah, me too! Don't forget me!" Maya piped up.

"Okay, okay I'll tell you. Just, promise you'll keep this to yourselves."

We nodded in unison, assuring her that we wouldn't tell a soul.

Mia quickly stole a glance around both sides of the room to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on what she was about to tell us. Then, she began, reducing her voice to a soft whisper so silent that I had to lean across the table to hear it.

"Okay. Well...I'm on the trail of a criminal, a blackmailer. He's the head of a company called Bluecorp and he's extremely powerful because he's got control of powerful people; politicians, judges and even other lawyers. His company has a lot of influence in the business world and he uses this to his own advantage to blackmail people into doing whatever he wants them to do. But, sometimes he pushes them too far, even making them commit suicide in some cases."

As I listened I heard a gasp of shock from my right side. Maya's face had gone as white as a sheet of paper as she listened to her sister.

"Anyway, I'm planning to expose his crimes and his company for what they truly are but...I'm afraid of what may happen if I do. He already knows that I am on to him and I...could be seriously hurt if I unmask him for the monster that he is. Which...is why I need you two." She breathed a deep sigh, glancing down at her lap for a short moment before returning her focus to us and continuing. "To keep it safe, I need you guys to keep hold of some important stuff for me. If HE finds it, I'm not going to be able to use it to expose him. Do you think that you could do that for me?"

I didn't hesitate to nod in agreement. That criminal deserved to be brought down and as a lawyer, it was my job to make sure that was what happened. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Maya do the same. Mia smiled in relief at us both.

"Good, I knew you two would agree to this. Thank you so much."

I opened my mouth to speak but the sight of our waitress approaching our table silenced any words that were about to come out of my mouth instantly.

(It's okay, it can wait. Food is far more important, especially burgers...mmm, burgers..)

Maya appeared to notice too as her smile had spread significantly and her eyes were sparkling and full of life.

(Geez, she's even more excited than I am!)

Since we had all decided what we wanted to eat in advance, it only took a few minutes to order. Maya had gotten the largest burger that they had on the menu, claiming that she was absolutely starving and since her sister was paying, she was going to get a larger meal than normal. Mia just rolled her eyes at this, making me assume that stuff like this happened between the two of them often. Mia and I, on the other hand, settled for a regular cheeseburger with fries each. Although I loved burgers, I wasn't going to make my boss pay for a huge meal for me too; if I was still hungry, I could always order some more fries.

Once we had finished, our menus were taken away and we just started to chat about work stuff and Maya's current life in her hometown, Kurain Village. I'll admit, it was actually really interesting finding out about spirit channelling and how it works. It's something that I never thought that I would find an interest in but I was soon lost in Maya's words and almost didn't notice it. That...heavenly smell.

The scent of barbecued burgers suddenly started getting stronger, overwhelming my nose and making my mouth start to fill with saliva. It took my mere seconds to realise that our food was approaching our table.

(Yes! Food, finally!) I mentally did a fist pump, remembering what had happened the last time I had done one for real. That was something that I didn't want to relive anytime soon.

Maya was still talking to Mia but she clearly noticed the familiar aroma because she looked around frantically trying to locate its source. As soon as she caught sight of the nearing food, her face lit up like a child on Christmas Day. She started doing small jumps up and down in her seat, making the table and everything currently on it bounce slightly like a mini earthquake.

The second our meals had been placed on the table, Maya picked up her monster of a burger and took a huge bite out of it, getting her face coated in ketchup in the process. I giggled lightly at her before digging my fork into a bunch of the fries surrounding my burger on my plate and placing them into my awaiting mouth.

(I seriously think that I am going to like this girl, she's got so much in common with me. I hope me, her, the Chief and someday Phoenix can all go out like this again.)

_**A/N: So, Rebecca knows Maya and about Redd White and his blackmail, this is gonna be interesting. What will happen next?, keep reading find out!**_

_**Also, some of the characters (...cough Maya coughcough...) may not have been entirely in character so I apologise for that. I tried my hardest to get them to be as realistic and similar to the game as possible but it was quite difficult, I hope you understand. Anyway, until next time...bye!**_

_**Gaby :)**_


	4. Livening Up The Office

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Chapter 3

_**A/N: Hi, I had a bit of a hard time trying to figure out what to write for this chapter but luckily enough, inspiration finally struck so, here I am with the 3rd chapter. Enjoy!**_

For work the next day, I arrived especially early since I had gotten a sudden burst of inspiration for a new prank to play on Mia. In order to carry it out, I had to get there before she did in order to set it up for her before she could come in and ruin my master plan.

With an evil smirk overtaking my face, I quickly grabbed my office chair from behind my desk and wheeled it over to the ajar doorway. I then hoisted up the bucket of rubber spiders (which I knew the Chief was scared of) that I had prepared previously, carefully placing them on the tiny gap I had left between the door and it's frame. It needed to be as small as possible so that Mia wouldn't notice anything suspicious. After making sure that the bucket was secure, I clambered off the chair and stood back with my hands on my hips to admire my handiwork.

(Now I just need to put my chair back so everything looks normal then wait for the Chief to come in and...the bucket will do the rest. Hehehe, I'm so evil..)

I rubbed my hands together in a villainous fashion and let out a little evil cackle to myself. I was so pleased with my little scheme and Mia's reaction to it was bound to be good. I just couldn't wait for her to arrive so that I could see her face when those spiders fall on her; it would be so funny!

I quickly replaced my chair in its rightful place behind my office desk and sat at it, patiently staring at the door in front of me. I rested my hand on my chin with the desk supporting my elbow, and waited.

And waited...and waited.

Fifteen minutes went by and I felt myself getting more frustrated with each second that ticked by, my arm was starting to ache and I had begun drumming my long, green painted fingernails in an irregular rhythm on the white painted wood beneath them.

(Right, that's it. I can't take this anymore!)

Rapidly losing my patience, I swiftly lifted myself up and began to approach the door to take the bucket back down, soon realising that I had forgotten my chair.

(Goddammit! Why can't I be just a little bit taller? My high heels add a few inches but not enough to reach this stupid door! Argh!)

Breathing a large and long drawn out sigh of frustration, I plodded back to my desk to retrieve my chair once again. But just as I laid my hands on it, I heard footsteps coming towards the office door from the outside.

(Mia! Finally, you're here! About bloody time too..)

I hurriedly returned to my previous position at my desk and acted as I normally could, filing cases like it was just another ordinary day at work while occasionally glancing up at the door to look out for the Chief entering.

Within a few seconds after I had sat back down again, the door was opening, dislodging the bucket from its secure position at the top of the doorframe. A split second passed before it had tumbled down and landed on the head of the person who had just entered the office with fake spiders surrounding them. Their cries of terror and surprise tickled my insides and I actually started to laugh quite heartily at them.

I couldn't actually see their reactions properly because of the door overshadowing them but the light entering the room kept getting intersected by their flailing arms. That coupled with their high pitched screams were hilarious. I'll be honest, I couldn't control myself. As soon as the person hidden in the doorway had recognised my uniquely manical retarded hyena-like laughter, they immediately froze in place, their arms stuck in the air as if they were surrendering to me.

"Becs, is that...you?"

I immediately reined in my uncontrolled giggles in complete shock upon hearing a second voice emanating from the door. The person's voice was familiar but not in the way that I had expected. I had been expecting to hear Mia's feminine voice tinted with a hint of anger as she usually had when I played pranks on her. However, instead this voice was deeper and was genuinely confused as to what had just happened, the complete opposite of how Mia would have reacted. And it took me mere moments to put the pieces together and decipher who it was that the voice belonged to.

"Ph-Phoenix?"

I stood up from my desk for a second time and approached the door of the office just as the figure finally emerged from the shadows of the doorframe and into the open, lit office. Although his face and iconic hairstyle were covered, the striking blue suit was unmistakable.

(Oh god, I've pranked the wrong colleague. Crap!)

I ran one hand through my auburn sea of hair in frustration and let out a sigh that I realised I had been holding in for a while. I was such a dumbass, how could I have pulled a practical joke on the wrong person?!

"Um...Becs?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you mind, um, getting this...bucket off my head?"

"Oh yeah! Hehe, sorry about that."

I made my way back over to the office entrance and gently removed the bucket from my coworker's spiky head. As his face was revealed, he grimaced and shuddered in a dissatisfied fashion, causing the one remaining rubber spider still perched on his head to shuffle slightly. Upon feeling the unfamiliar and unexpected movement, he cautiously raised his right hand up to meet the source of it. As soon as he realised what it was, he squirmed in fright and shook his head frantically in a desperate attempt to get the toy arachnid to fall out of his hair.

"AHHHHHHHHH, GETITOFF GETITOFF GETITOOOOOFFFF!"

(Okay okay, bloody hell. No need to deafen me when you ask though!)

I covered my ears as Phoenix's voice suddenly changed dramatically in pitch and volume. The way he had reacted sounded like his voice box had been replaced with one from an eight year old girl. It was nothing like I would have expected from a 23 year old man of his stature anyway.

In the midst of the chaos that he was causing, I swiftly reached up so that I was touching his head and knocked the spider off with a flick of my wrist. As soon as Phoenix realised that the 'danger' had vanished, his eyes flew open and he regained his regular posture, breathing a huge sigh of relief.

"Phew, thanks Becs. You really saved me there."

"Don't mention it."

He wiped the sweat that had been building up on his forehead away with his hands and started to stumble towards his desk. Even though it was a very amusing sight, I did feel a bit guilty for giving him such as shock at such an early time of day.

(I know I wouldn't be particularly pleased if it was the opposite way around but then, I am very moody on a morning so, that's to be expected, I guess. Either way, I think I should apologise to him.)

"Hey, sorry for giving you such a fright. I thought that the Chief would be the first in today; I didn't even consider the possibility that you would be here before she was." I called out to him as I returned to my own desk, positioning myself on my cozy office chair once again.

"It's ok, I know that you didn't mean to hurt me. It was just a harmless prank, right?" I heard a small chuckle from around the corner before he continued. "Heh, thinking back on it now, I did overreact a bit, didn't I?"

I felt myself start to giggle again too. "Umm, yeah just a little bit, haha! You squealed like a little girl!"

"Yeah, I guess I did, ha!"

We both laughed to ourselves from our respective desks, the joyful sound echoing off the office walls. I restarted my job from a bit earlier and continued filing cases from the past few weeks and I heard Phoenix's fingers tapping away on his desktop computer. Our giggles died down after a few minutes and soon, the only noises in the room were the rustling of papers as they were shoved into files, the clicking of a computer mouse and keyboard and the steady, continuous ticking of the clock on the wall. Everything was quiet and peaceful like this for a while until Phoenix eventually broke the calming atmosphere.

"Hey Becs?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh...thanks a lot for being so friendly and welcoming. You've really made me feel like a part of the office over the past few days and...it means a lot to me, so thank you."

I felt a warming feeling inside my chest as my heart swelled up in pride.

(I-I can't believe that he just said that to me. Me, welcoming? All I did was show him around, ask him some questions and play a prank on the poor guy! How can that be considered 'friendly'? Either way, he seems to have appreciated it.)

"I-It's not a problem. I was happy to. Except, how can that prank earlier be considered 'welcoming', may I ask?" I called back to him, finding it strange that he found my actions that morning to be a friendly gesture.

"Well yeah, that part did scare the life out of me at the time but thinking back on it now, it was pretty hilarious and did make me laugh. Little tricks like that crack me up."

As he spoke, an idea suddenly made itself known inside my head. "Hey, why don't you join me?"

"Huh?" Even though I couldn't directly see him, I could sense the confusion on his face from the tone of his voice.

"You know, pranking and stuff. We could pull a load of pranks on the Chief. C'mon, what do you say?"

He hesitated for a moment before replying. "Well, I don't know. I mean, she IS my new boss; I can't start pranking her now otherwise she might fire me."

(Hmm, he has a good point)

"Well...why don't you just help me come up with new ways to prank Mia? Then you don't have to be directly involved but can still be a part of the fun. How about that?"

Another silent moment while he thought over my offer. "Umm, yeah that sounds like a better idea."

I smiled. "Ok cool. Well, welcome to the squad Phoenix!"

"Huh? What squad?"

"The Office Prank Squad, silly! You're now the second member!"

"Yeah, heh. I guess I am."

_**A/N: Yay, update! Sorry this has taken soooooo long to update, mock exams and schoolwork have been taking over my life recently and I haven't been having time to do much else. I'll try to get my update schedule back in order as soon as I can. See you in the next chapter (whenever that may be) ! **_

_**Gaby :)**_


	5. Phoenix's Revelation

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Chapter 4

_**A/N: I decided to try something a bit different this time so here is...Phoenix's POV! Hope you enjoy!**_

I'll admit, when I walked into work the next morning, I was a bit apprehensive after what had happened. I just hadn't expected a bucket to be dropped onto my head like that. Especially not a bucket of...SPIDERS, ugh it gives me the shudders just thinking about it.

At least Becs found it amusing.

The look on her face when the bucket was removed from my head made it obvious that it was her who had pulled the prank on me. She was clearly holding back laughter as much as she could but didn't appear to have much success in doing so since she let it all out relatively quickly. At first, I felt mad that someone found it amusing to do something like that to me but upon hearing her unique, joy filled giggling, that feeling vanished. I mean, how could you be mad at someone when they were having such a good time?

So, I just decided to laugh along with her, laugh off all of my negative feelings and just enjoy myself. It was just one little harmless joke, right?

In the short time that we had remaining before Mia arrived, Becs assigned me some file work and came round to my desk to assist me with it. While we worked our way through the pile of folders, we discussed many random topics such as our backgrounds, lifestyles, our favourite food (I didn't know that she loved food as much as she did, it was one of the many things that I learned about her), the movies that we enjoyed watching and basically got to know each other better. It was great finding more out about Becs and it made me feel like I had gotten closer to her as a colleague. I discovered that I had more in common with her than I first expected. We both loved to laugh and have fun, could be very sarcastic at times, enjoyed eating junk food and, perhaps the biggest connection, that we were both extremely passionate about defending the innocent from crimes that they were wrongly accused of committing. And those were only a few of the qualities that we shared.

In short, I had a feeling that we would get along very well as colleagues.

Mia eventually arrived at the office around 15 minutes after the...spider incident, right when me and Becs were in the middle of our conversation. As soon as she walked in and saw us talking and laughing, she stopped for a second and smiled at us.

"Aww, it's nice to see that the two of you are getting along and finding things to talk about. And here I was, worried that you would be ripping each other's throats out by now." She laughed a little at her own comment as she looked at us with proud eyes.

I was a bit shocked by her comment but managed to force out some nervous laughter. However, I couldn't meet her gaze no matter how hard I tried so was forced to look at the carpeted office floor. Luckily, Becs quickly defused the situation.

"Haha, well no need to worry Chief, no throat ripping going on here!"

"Yes, haha, I'm glad." Mia responded before making her way over to her desk to start her work.

As she walked away, Becs whispered to me in a hushed voice. "Hey Phoenix, why don't we start coming up with some pranks?" I rolled my eyes at her.

_(Mia's arrival must have reminded her of our discussion earlier)_

She crossed her arms and glared at me with a pouted face, similar to a child who hasn't gotten their own way. "Hey come on, we have to do it some time you know, better sooner than later."

I shook my head at her with a smile, still refusing to cooperate.

_(Let's see how worked up she gets...)_

She rolled her eyes in my direction and sighed heavily.

"Ugh, fine." As she looked away from me, I noticed a small smirk pull at her lips. I immediately felt the colour draining from my face as she turned her head back in my direction. I began to feel beads of sweat forming at my forehead as I considered all of the possible ideas that she could have come up with at that moment.

_(Oh no, what's she planning? Whatever it is, it can't be good.)_

She stood up and turned to face me, arms folded with her right fingers patting the soft material of her jacket on her left arm in an irregular rhythm. The smirk vanished from her face and was replaced by a thoughtful expression.

"But you'll have to do more file work if you don't. And this time, I won't help you, and it'll be a bigger pile of folders. It's either pranking ideas or a load of boring file work. So, what'll it be Phoenix?"

The smirk reappeared on her face as she looked me right in the eye, awaiting my response to her offer. Her suddenly stern eyes were fixated on mine, putting me under intense pressure.

I hurriedly considered my options for a second before breathing a sigh of defeat.

_(May as well give in to her. Like she said, she'll make me do it anyway, better getting it out of the way now than having it hanging over my head for weeks to come.)_

"Okay, fine. I'll do it."

Her smirk transformed into her usual joyful grin again upon hearing my response, her eyes becoming warm and friendly once more.

"Yes!" She celebrated her success with a fist pump in the air. I smiled warmly at her and let out a short laugh.

_(Haha, she's crazy.)_

And so, that's what we did for the rest of the morning.

As we were thinking up some new, elaborately planned pranks to pull on our unsuspecting boss, we discussed our existing knowledge of practical jokes. I was very surprised by how many good pranks that she knew about.

_(I never would have thought that someone like her would have such a vast array of different ways to pull a practical joke on someone. Just shows that you shouldn't judge someone before you get to know them better.)_

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be; I could actually go so far as to say that I had fun. It wasn't long or tedious as I had assumed it to be and before I knew it, we had filled a full A4 page with ideas. Becs seemed satisfied with this and returned to her own desk with a spring in her step to continue with some unfinished work, leaving me lost in my own thoughts.

It had just dawned on me that I recognised Becs from somewhere; something about her just seemed...familiar, somehow. I had no idea what it was, maybe her unique, multicoloured eyes? Sifting through my memories, I tried to decipher where I could have met her in the past.

I leaned back on my office chair, sinking into it's cushioned leather surface as I thought.

_(Those trustworthy, friendly green-brown eyes, I swear I've seen them before. But where? Where could I possibly have...Ahh!)_

I gasped at the shock of my own revelation that had just descended upon me.

_(N-no, that can't be it! That can't be right.)_

I quickly sat up straight my seat, the truth eventually becoming clearer and setting itself firmly into the depths of my mind. But, it couldn't be anything else. I couldn't think of anyone else that I had met who could have been Becs. The ages would have been right and she had those a amazing eyes. Still, I couldn't be sure that they were the same person.

And there was only one way hat I could find out for sure.

"Um, Becs?"

"Hmm?"

I lifted myself off of my office chair and made my way around the corner so that I was opposite Becs' desk. This was something that I had to ask face to face. As I came into her line of vision, she stopped what she was doing at her desk and focused all of her attention onto me.

"Did you, by any chance, go to Springwood Elementary School as a kid?"

She froze, her expressions unchanging as she turned to face me, eyes wide.

_(Heh, looks like I WAS right after all) _

"How did you know that?"

"I knew it." I muttered quietly under my breath in response.

"Yeah, but how?" She seemed genuinely confused.

"Well, you may not remember but...I went there too, from when I was six until I was eight."

"What?! Well then, how did you-" Her shock was written all over her face upon hearing my response. Her eyes widened even further as she started to panic.

"Remember you? Well, let's just say, you were a pretty big influence on a certain seven year old boy when you went there." I replied scratching at the back of my neck nervously as I did so.

She looked right at me with a blank expression, showing to me that her memories weren't going to return anytime soon. So, I decided to shorten the amount of time that it would take for her to recognise me.

"Don't remember yet? Well here, let me remind you..."

_**A/N: Hehe, sorry I couldn't resist sticking a cliffhanger in there. So, what do you think? How did young Rebecca influence young Phoenix? Find out in the next update! I promise, this next chapter will be a good one, you won't be disappointed! My summer holidays (whoop whoop!) from school are still going so I should be able to update faster than I have been recently. Anyway, I'm having a great time writing the next chapter already so prepare yourselves for a new instalment very soon! Till then, bye!**_

_**Gaby :)**_


	6. Saviours

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Chapter 5

_**A/N: Screw my boring author's notes, this time I'm just going to shut up and let you read.**_

16 YEARS EARLIER:

"Hey, Becca?"

I felt my best friend Melissa's bony finger prodding the flesh of my arm repeatedly in an attempt to get my attention. I eventually got fed up with her constant bothering and answered her.

"What is it, Mel?"

She immediately directed my attention towards a scene unfolding on the opposite side of the school playground where a small crowd was beginning to gather. It only took me a few seconds to deduce what was going on. And when I did, I couldn't resist letting out a sigh of annoyance.

_(Just when I thought today couldn't get any worse..)_

There they were yet again. Drew Hill and his crew were at it once more. For the third day in a row. As if this hadn't gone on long enough already.

I rolled my eyes in frustration and ventured closer to see what was going on today, with Mel following closely behind. Their latest victim, a small boy with black hair that stuck out from the back of his head in porcupine-like spikes, was crouched in the same corner as he had been the day before cowering away from the four older kids with tears glistening in his charcoal eyes.

Because of his abnormal hairstyle and his name, Felix or something, I can't really remember, he was now a target for the gang, unfortunately. Since he was different, he was currently getting picked on by Drew, who saw the fact that this kid was unwilling to fight back as a perfect opportunity to have some 'fun'.

"Well, look who it is boys, it's the little Phoenix. Thought you could hide from us today, huh? That we wouldn't find you if you hid in a different corner of the playground? Well, guess what? You thought WRONG."

_(Phoenix! That was it. I knew it was something unusual..)_

Hearing his name, Phoenix looked up and froze in fear at the four boys above him, pushing himself further into the corner of the wall where he was sat, clearly wanting to be as far away from the gang as possible.

Noticing this, Drew couldn't resist the opportunity to tease him a bit and get him warmed up for what was to come, which couldn't have been anything good. He shook his head and put on a fake sympathetic expression and started to speak in a tone to match it, lowering himself to the younger boy's face level.

"It doesn't look like you can escape from this one, my friend. Your wings are gone and there is no one who can help you now. And don't try to use those spikes on the back of your head to fend us off or frighten us away, because all we'll do is laugh at you for being pathetic, alright?" If he wasn't so tall and frightening and if he tweaked some of his words at points, what he just said to the younger boy could have been seen as reassuring and believable however the smirk that appeared on his face and the way that he glared at the kid after he had finished speaking confirmed to me and everyone else that he was just being sarcastic. Like he always is.

_(He always does this before striking, this can't end well...)_

"P-Please, don't h-hurt m-me" Phoenix whimpered softly, covering his head in what I assumed was either an attempt to hide his tear strewn face or to protect himself. I wasn't sure, but I did know for a fact that he was terrified out of his wits. The poor kid only looked about seven years old and because the other boys were 4 years older than him, they significantly towered above him and could definitely overpower him since he was both outnumbered and weaker than they were.

The bully stood up again before speaking. "Well, we promised that you would walk away unharmed yesterday and the day before that but I'm afraid.." Drew paused for a moment as he put his hands together and pushed his palms forward, his knuckles making a cracking noise that made both me and the boy on the ground flinch. "..that today, we probably won't be able to keep that promise."

Phoenix gasped in horror and started to shiver, muffled whines of fear escaping his mouth as he did so. Smirking at the sight of his suffering, the bullies began to advance forwards, in a formation that would trap the kid should he attempt to run away from his inevitable fate. The boy buried his face into his own lap, sobs emerging from his quivering form. He was helpless right now and he knew it. All he could do was sit and wait for the bullies to do their dirty work for today and leave, he didn't have any other option. For a second, I was surprised that none of his friends had gone over to help him or back him up or something but then, I remembered.

No one had ever been brave enough to do that.

Drew's gang was so feared by all the kids at this school that he was just left to his own devices to do whatever he wanted to. There were even a few teachers that I could think of that had ignored him in the past as if he were just a normal kid doing what kids usually do. When in reality, he was far from that. I just wished that someone, anyone, would someday get the courage to stand up to that bully and prevent anymore suffering.

"Oh, that poor boy." I turned to my left to see Mel's fearful face, clearly wishing that she didn't have to bear witness to the events that were bound to come. I couldn't really blame her; we had been forced to watch it so many times before that we were both getting fed up with it now.

_(Th-This is wrong. Drew shouldn't be allowed to do this and get away with it like he has done before, someone needs to stop him..)_

I surveyed my surroundings and the people contained within them, searching for any potential saviours. However, to my dismay, no one seemed willing to act. Young children were gathered in small clumps near me, all with terrified expressions on their faces. Any teachers walking nearby were acting as if they hadn't witnessed a thing, clearly wanting to avoid yet another confrontation with the school's worst group of bullies by any means necessary. I returned my gaze to Mel who just shook her head and directed her eyes away from mine in an attempt to make me lose interest in her and focus on something else.

_(Well, if it's going to be anyone, it's going to have to be me. But, I couldn't possibly try to do anything to a group of boys in the year above me, I wouldn't stand a chance.)_

"Uh, Becca? Are you okay?"

My feelings must have started to show in my facial expressions because Mel was beginning to inquire after me. I just ignored her as I focused on the small boy in the centre of the circle of bullies.

_(Phoenix, he doesn't deserve this. What has he ever done to Drew? Nothing, that's what. And yet, this is what he gets in return. It's just...HORRIBLE!)_

The anger was burning up inside of me, I could feel my face gradually getting warmer and redder with every breath I took. I started grunting softly and I gritted my teeth in frustration at seeing this sight unfold before me.

_(They can't just do this to people, it isn't fair! Just because he's younger and weaker than them! Why-)_

"Becca, seriously I'm starting to worry about you. Please, answer me."

And then, I had an incredible feeling. It was like nothing I had ever felt before and I was overcome by how strong and sudden it was. I instantly felt determined, strong, courageous, like nothing could stop me. I felt like I could do anything. Even though it was only for a second, it felt like time had stopped around me.

It was in that split second that I decided what I was going to do.

The bullies were approaching their victim slowly, as if to make it as painful for him as possible, and I decided to use this to my advantage. Since I was spectating from quite a distance, I knew that I would have to move closer.

"Mel, wait here for a sec, okay?"

Leaving her questioning the meaning of what I had just told her, I moved quickly yet stealthily across the playground, my footsteps so silent that you could have heard a pin drop, until I was as near as I dared to go to the scene. Then, when the bullies got within an arm's reach of Phoenix, I did something that nobody else had ever dared to do, something that I wouldn't have had the courage or strength to do at any other moment.

"STOP!"

I shouted as loud as I could towards the bullies, causing all four to turn to look at me. Upon hearing my scream, the boy curled up in a ball in front of them also lifted up his head, staring at me with his dark grey eyes in shock and wonder.

When Drew saw that it was me who had shouted out to him, he simply shook his head, laughing at me as if I was stupid, which I probably seemed to everyone else around me (including Mel), who were all now staring at me in pure shock. While elbowing one of his minions, the one closest to his right side, Drew sneered "Not to worry boys, it's just little Becky, what harm could she do to us? She would never DARE do anything to defy us, she wouldn't have the guts."

_(Stay calm Bec, don't let him get to you..)_

Resisting the sudden urge I had to run the last few metres separating me from them and wipe that sadistic smirk of Drew's smug-ass face, I maintained my control over my raging emotions as I simply responded with a small smile.

"Want me to take you up on that, Drew?"

The people around us gasped in surprise at what I had just said to the most feared kid in the whole school, with Mel's concerned shouts rising above all of the others. The boy himself just laughed in disbelief.

"You? Take on me? Pssh! I'd like to see you try." He then started howling with laughter, his followers doing what they did best and copying their leader immediately after. This just enraged me even more.

For that short moment, I suddenly lost my control over myself and couldn't resist any longer. I took the opportunity I had just received and rushed forward while they were all still doubled over with laughter. Adrenaline overpowering my body, I ran faster than I had ever ran before towards the centre of the group.

Towards Drew.

Before I knew what I was doing, I had done the unthinkable. All of my anger showed itself at that moment, all that had built up from the past few years of watching Drew tease and hurt others with words and violence. All of that suffering I had seen, every bit of it caused by that one stuck-up, hurtful, inconsiderate bully. I just couldn't take anymore of it.

So...I punched him. Hard. In the face.

The gasps of the small crowd that had gathered around us intensified and echoed throughout the playground as Drew clutched his right eye. As I recoiled, I looked at him to see what damage I had done and grinned triumphantly at what I saw.

His eye and right cheek had already started swelling up from the blow. When he took his huge hand away from his face, redness and what would eventually become bruising was clearly visible over the area which had collided with my left fist.

_(Huh, I never knew that I was strong enough to do something like that. And to someone a year OLDER than me! Wow..)_

His gang-mates simply stared at me, wide eyed with shock over what I had just done to their leader. Clearly frightened at the thought of what I could potentially do to them, they began to cower in fear and hide themselves as if to try to escape from the situation that had just presented itself in front of them, in the form of a 10 year old girl. And I must say, their faces were priceless to see. I glanced behind me for a second to observe my best friend's reaction. She was, in a word, stupefied. And little Phoenix, well, his face was a mix of relief and pure astonishment, which I suppose is only natural since he had just come extremely close to a severe beating.

_(I suppose if I hadn't have intervened, he'd be the one with the black eye right now, poor kid. I must look like some kind of hero to him, for stopping Drew. It's a good feeling, knowing that I just saved someone, I like it. Maybe I should do stuff like this more often..)_

I was broken away from my train of thought by the sight of Drew out of the corner of my eye. He had stopped clutching his eye and had started approaching me and I had to say, he did not look very happy.

I could see the rage portrayed on his half-red/swollen face and as he came closer to me, I noticed a small, anger fuelled twitch beneath his one good eye.

_(Oh no, I'm he's going to get me now! Oh, what to do, what's to do...ah!)_

I suddenly had a fortunate burst of inspiration from, ironically, Drew himself. I recalled all of the times that he had taunted and bullied people in the past, how he got them worked up through words and threats before actually getting his fists involved. I decided to adopt this strategy to use at this point in time, just to tease and annoy him even more than I already had.

_(It's time to give you a taste of your own medicine, Drew Hill!)_

"I tried to warn you, Drew but you didn't listen to me and, look where it got you. You ended up with a black eye because of it. Now, let me ask you, how does it feel to get your butt whipped by a girl? Or, even better, a girl who is YOUNGER THAN YOU?" As I began to put my little strategy into place, I could practically feel the anger seething off of him and my god, did it feel good. And even though his pace was quickening and he was looking more and more like a bull charging towards a matador (a.k.a me), I refused to back down. I was going to stand my ground against this...this BULLY.

"Well, now you know how all of those kids feel. All of those innocent, harmless little kids who you taunted just because they were smaller and more vulnerable than yourself. People like you disgust me, thinking that you own the place just because you are in the highest year of this school when really, you're just like the rest of us. Just. A. Kid."

I was cut off there by Drew rugby tackling me to the floor, shoving my back against the uneven tarmac and pinning me there. I felt an intense throbbing pain collect in my spine and threaten to make me scream however I clamped my mouth shut with my lips to prevent any screams from emerging.

_(No. Be brave, Becs, don't give in to him.)_

I attempted to push myself up from my position on the ground without any success. Drew's iron grip had me stuck there. I wriggled around as much as I could in order to free myself only to end in failure there too. Drew's smirk reappeared on his swollen face, satisfied that he had finally regained the advantage.

"How dare you defy me! Just who do you think you are?!" He screamed just inches away from my ear, the volume of his enraged voice causing me to flinch.

However, I would not be beaten. I stood my ground and simply flashed him a small smile despite the pain in my back injury.

"D-Do whatever you want to me...Drew. Now that people have seen that...you're n-not as powerful as you th-think you...are, more will follow me. Once one kid s-stands up to you, all of them will."

I had gritted my teeth to make my words sound more serious but my voice still came out pained and wavering, tinged slightly with fear. I may have injured him a bit but he was still the strongest kid in the school and he could still hurt me a whole lot more than I had hurt him. I had already been injured once and in this position, he could quite easily strike again.

As I had expected, his reaction to what I had said wasn't a good one. He grunted in anger and raised his fist into the air. "Really? You think so? Well, we'll see about that."

_(This is it, I'm in for it now.)_

I closed my eyes, preparing myself for the devastating blow to my body that was bound to come. The ringing in my ear that would come from a punch to the right side of my face, that's where he was aiming for after all.

_(It's okay, it's better that it's me rather than Phoenix. I deserve it more than he does.)_

However, the next sound I heard wasn't my own screams or Drew's taunting voice; it was something else entirely.

It was a new voice; not mine or Drew's, someone else's.

"Hey, g-get off her! Leave her alone!"

_(Wh-What?)_

I cautiously reopened my eyes to see a sight that I would never have expected. Phoenix was charging towards me and Drew, his little feet pounding the ground at an incredible speed. Once he reached us, he jumped on the back of Drew's right leg where his joint was, exuding all of the force he could onto that single weak point.

"ARGH! Why you little-" Drew exclaimed in pain as he turned to face Phoenix. As he did, I realised that his grip on my waist had loosened. I began to kick at him and wriggle with all of my remaining strength, trying utilise this opportunity and escape.

But Drew was too quick for me.

He focused all of his strength back into his arms, pushing me back to the ground with even more force than before.

He tutted at me, wagging a single finger in front of my face. "Ah, ah, ah, don't you be going anywhere."

In the background, I heard a faint sigh, presumably Phoenix's, at witnessing my failed escape. Maintaining his hold on me this time, Drew turned his head towards the rest of his group and growled at them in frustration.

"Well, don't just stand there then. Get him!"

The bullies, slightly taken aback by their leader's sudden command, each gave a nod obediently in our direction before facing the small boy behind Drew and smirking wickedly. Phoenix gasped in fright as his whole body started to shake with fear. He began to retreat backwards, getting closer to where I was laid. Which gave me an idea.

"Phoenix!" His head snapped in my direction, his eyes wide with terror. While I had his attention I screamed as loud as my coarse throat could take at him to run away. He nodded quickly at me and shot me a faint smile before taking off onto the school field away from his three pursuers. I smiled in relief.

_(He'll be safe now; I'm sure he'll be able to outrun those three bumbling idiots. I'm glad he listened to me.)_

Drew faced me again, his eyes filled with hatred and a thirst for revenge. He balled up a fist for the second time and lifted his arm into the air. My smile instantly disappeared once again from my face.

"Now, where were we?"

_(Oh god, I forgot about my own situation. I'm still going to get punched! Well, nothing to do now but take it.)_

This time, I didn't close my eyes because, before I had chance to do so, my ears picked up the distant sound of another set of footsteps approaching us. Drew apparently noticed them too because he looked up from me, his fist still frozen in the air. I tilted my head, following his eyes, to get a glimpse of the mystery person but couldn't twist my neck far enough. But there was no need because whoever it was soon came within my line of vision. I gasped at who I saw approaching Drew because it was the last person I had ever expected to see.

"M-Mel?"

My best friend, my timid, shy yet caring best friend was stood face to face with Drew with her face screwed up in anger. Her pretty blue eyes were filled to the brim with anger, her brow was furrowed and she was breathing extremely heavily. Her features were twisted into a mask of rage, her eyes containing that same desire that Drew's had only minutes earlier. That same desire for revenge. However, Drew didn't seem to be fazed at all by her demeanour. He plastered a fake smile onto his face.

"Ah, if it isn't timid little Melanie. Now, what do you want?"

If it was possible, Mel got even angrier upon hearing Drew calling her that. I could have sworn that I noticed smoke emerging from her ears. She took a deep breath and flashed her eyes to the floor, clearly a bit scared about what could happen to her if she reacted.

_(Come on Mel, keep it together. You can do this.)_

After exhaling, her eyes lifted back up to meet Drew's. "I-I want you to give me my best friend back!"

Then, for the second time that day (and probably in his life), Drew Hill got hit by a girl who was younger than he was.

Mel's right hand swung round, coming into contact with Drew's sore cheek from my punch earlier and creating a smacking noise that made me flinch.

"Aargh!"

One of Drew's hands reached up and touched the impacted area, his face contorted in pain. Seeing he was distracted, Mel turned to me.

"Becca, run!" He shouted, a sense of urgency in her tone.

I thrashed around until I had completely freed myself of Drew's grip. I jumped to my feet and quickly pumped my fists in the air in triumph, my wavy brown locks of hair bouncing around my face.

_(Finally! Freedom, at last!)_

As I began to swiftly retreat, I noticed Mel lowering herself to Drew's face level, shaking her head in disappointment at his crumpled form. Then, just before I was out of earshot, I heard her say something else to him, her voice filled with newfound confidence.

"Oh, and don't call me Melanie. It's not my name, you know."

I felt myself start to giggle at Mel's snarky little comment as I listened to her footsteps pounding harder and faster against the playground floor. She quickly caught up to me and as soon as she entered my peripheral vision, I turned my head towards her, my eyes locking onto hers, and shot her the largest grin I could manage. I then raised my arm, palm facing her, asking for a high five. Her hand met mine with a smack. Recoiling almost simultaneously, we shared another grin as we approached the field.

"Great job Mel, that was awesome! Now, let's go and help Phoenix."

"Okay, th-thanks Becca." She brushed a wisp of strawberry blonde hair out of her face before smiling at me again. Then, we sped off in the direction I remembered Phoenix travelling in as he was chased.

Little did either of us know, he would be the one to bring us together again 16 years later.

_**A/N: How awesome was that?! I bet you didn't know that Rebecca was such a badass, did you? I loved writing this chapter since I had so many ideas for it; hopefully I can keep up this standard of writing for the remaining duration of this book. Anyways, please review telling me your opinion of this book, good or bad I am still happy to hear them. See you in the next chapter!**_

_**Gaby :)**_


	7. Recollection

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Chapter 6

_**A/N: Hi, so sorry for the slow update time, you know, school and stuff. First week back and the teachers are already starting to pile on the homework. I've also been pretty ill which hasn't helped at all. So, sorry about that. Anyway, on with the chapter!**_

"Oh, my god...that, was you?" I was so taken aback by the story that I could barely speak. All of my memories had come flooding back upon hearing Phoenix tell it, abruptly knocking all of the air out of my lungs and washing away any words that I had thought of saying.

"Yup, sure was. I'm glad you finally remembered me Becs."

"B-But hold on a second, how did you remember me? You were younger than I was at the time."

Phoenix cupped his chin in his left hand, thinking for a second before he spoke. "Well, I guess it just meant more to me then it did to you."

_(What's that supposed to mean?)_

"Huh?"

"Well, you saved me from a severe beating that day and...that meant a lot to me. When I moved schools a year later, I was bullied again but for a different reason: I was accused of stealing someone's lunch money. I was probably blamed partially because I was the new boy. Luckily, someone else came to my rescue and that's something that I can never forget. It may not have seemed like much to you but, to me, it meant the world. I mean, how could I forget someone who was brave enough to stand up against everyone else, against all the odds, for me?"

I was touched, he actually felt that I had done something right for once, helped someone outside of court. Influenced someone in a positive way instead of getting in the way of others who are trying to do good, which I tended to do regularly. It wasn't my intention to do that though; my intentions were entirely positive however when I try to help someone out, I don't usually use the most effective methods to assist. Therefore, someone else, mainly the Chief, needs to come and help me out.*

I quickly shifted my eyes to the floor, the feeling of a sudden flush spreading to my cheeks. I rocked slowly on the balls of my feet as I spoke, my hands clasped together behind my back.

"Hey, y-you did the same for me. I-I mean, if it wasn't for you, I'd have gotten a mouthful of Drew's fist that day." I replied gratefully with a small laugh. I stopped rocking and lifted my head up slightly. "You were the one who gathered up the guts to fight back when Drew had me trapped. I guess, I'm just thankful that you knew he had that weak spot, you were...pretty smart for a seven year old." I glanced back up at Phoenix, my eyes meeting his, with a smirk pulling at my lips.

Now it was his turn to be embarrassed.

His right arm made it's way behind his head and scratched at his neck nervously. Faint blotches of red became visible on his cheeks as beads of sweat began to form around his hairline. "Y-Yeah, me too. I...I don't know what I would have done if he had hurt you, I'd have probably never forgiven myself if I hadn't have acted at that point and done what I did..."

_(Th-That's..!)_

"That's exactly like me!" I blurted out, speaking my thoughts. I instantly clasped my hands over my mouth and apologised to Phoenix for interrupting him. He looked slightly taken aback by this but motioned for me to continue anyway.

"I-I feel just the same. If I had just stood back like everyone else and let Drew hurt you, when I was capable of helping and could have prevented it, I would have hated myself for it. You have no idea how glad I am that I acted when I did and stopped him. Because it didn't just help you, you know; since you, me and my friend Melissa went against him, things changed after you left."

"R-Really?" Phoenix's eyes widened in surprise.

I nodded eagerly and started to explain. Since that day, when me, Phoenix and Mel stood up to Drew and his gang, he never bullied anyone again. He finally realised that the kids at our school didn't appreciate what he did to them and that, if he didn't change his ways, others would soon follow our example and fight back. The teachers finally snapped out of it too and severely punished him for what he had done (along with us, unfortunately), the tables had finally turned on him. And, surprisingly, for the remaining time that he was in Springwood, he treated Mel and I with great respect and never bothered us again.

"It was a pretty drastic change, it was like he was a completely different person after that."

Phoenix started to laugh slightly, seeming to find it amusing that our actions were all it took to bring Drew down. "Ha, wow...we were awesome back then, weren't we?"

I started to giggle too, his comment tickling me a little. "Haha, yeah. I still can't really believe I had the guts to do something like that, making a big kid like him squeal like a girl half his age. Man, I'm good!"

"Yeah, you got that right." Phoenix's laughing increased in volume as he openly and genuinely chuckled at what I had just said. His laughter made my grin widen. It was so open and unique, like he wasn't afraid to be himself on front of me even though he had only known me for a few weeks, and I liked that a lot about him.

He recomposed himself relatively quickly and gazed into my eyes with a wide smile and kind eyes of his own, becoming serious once again. "Y-You were one of my heroes Becs. You, a-and two boys at my other elementary school were people who I looked up to immensely for standing up for me and fighting back when others wouldn't dare to. You were the ones who influenced me and ultimately made me want to become a defence attorney so that I could do the same. So...th-thanks."

_(I-I influenced him to do...what?!)_

I had no idea how to respond. I opened my mouth to reply with some clever comment or joke to lighten the mood again (I'm not very good at serious situations like this) but nothing would come out. I just stood there in front of him, jaw dangling open like some kind of fish. I must have been open for longer than I thought because Phoenix started to look a little concerned for me. Once he waved his hand in front of my eyes, I snapped out of my weird trance and shook my head lightly to get rid of any remains of it.

Then, I thought again about what he had said about me, those extremely thoughtful, kind words, and finally processed them properly. And before I knew what I was doing, I had thrown my arms around his torso and pulled him into a hug, tears prickling at the corners of my eyes.

Poor Phoenix seemed pretty taken aback by my sudden gesture as his arms waved around in midair, not really knowing what to do with themselves. "U-Um, Becs? What are you doing?"

"Th-Thank you, that m-means so much." I spluttered out through shaky breaths as my emotions started to take over.

Hearing my response, Phoenix seemed to calm down more and ease into the hug, wrapping his own arms around my shoulders to try to comfort me.

"Your welcome."

His voice was surprising calm, especially compared to my hiccuping, high pitched one. I'd have thought that he'd be more worried that some random 26 year old woman who he had only known for 3 weeks was suddenly bawling right in his face and dragging him into a hug. However, even though I was extremely embarrassed to be crying my eyes out on the poor guy's shoulder, he didn't seem to mind in the slightest.

Now, it may seem really childish to cry over something like that but his words meant the world to me. Because it showed that I was actually doing something right, making someone happy, influencing someone else in a positive way, inspiring them. And there was nothing that made me more overcome with joy that seeing others like that because of me and, since this was a rare occurrence, I wanted to savour those moments for as long as possible.

_**A/N: I know, this is really bad compared to the last one, right? Ah well, I can't be that good at writing all of the time you know! Just wait until the eventful stuff happens again (which will be soon) and hopefully my writing will improve. Either way, I hope you liked seeing a more emotional side to Rebecca in this chapter as opposed to her usual upbeat, jokey self. Reviews about what you thought (good or bad) are much appreciated. And, as always, see you in the next instalment!**_

_**Gaby :)**_


	8. Preparations

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Chapter 7

_**A/N: Hi guys, since I'm feeling much better now and I've been able to get a huge chunk of my homework done, I thought I'd update a bit earlier this time. Hopefully it will make up for my crappy update schedule for the past few chapters. So...enjoy!**_

Over the next few months, Phoenix and I built up quite a strong bond as I, along with Mia, taught him all that I knew about defending. The important assets that I passed on to him included how to correctly cross examine a lying witness, how to outwit the prosecution, get the judge on your side and, probably the most vital one of all, how to correctly stand and hold his arm when pointing and yelling 'Objection!'. It was a lot of fun and luckily, Phoenix seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.

Oh, and the Office Prank Squad? It's doing pretty well if I do say do myself. 7 successful pranks and Mia didn't suspect a thing about Phoenix being involved. And that's how I wanted it to be; I didn't want him to be blamed or even fired for my misdeeds and trickery, it wouldn't be fair on the poor guy.

Even though his involvement was secret, I could tell that Phoenix had a lot of fun when devising pranks with me. It was extremely relieving to me that he was enjoying my company; I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't so fun loving and open towards me. And I had to admit, the feeling was mutual. I'd have assumed that he would have become some kind of burden or annoyance as time went on but it was entirely the opposite. I really enjoyed being around him and never want to stop having a laugh with him in the office.

On the other hand, I was extremely determined to make him into the best defence attorney I possibly could, just as the Chief had done for me. Even though I didn't have a perfect win record like many of the more famous lawyers in the district, I always tried every possibility and did everything in my power to get a defendant an acquittal. I didn't particularly care for winning; that wasn't my main goal. I just desired that feeling of satisfaction with my efforts, that I had done all that I could for whoever I was defending. And that's exactly what I wanted for Phoenix.

I trained him up, teaching him everything that I knew about being a well rounded, decent attorney and the Chief built up on that, improving on sections of defending that she held more knowledge on than I did. Together, we moulded him into the greatest lawyer possible within our capabilities and readied him for his first proper trial; that fateful day where he would sink or swim, when we would either win or fail.

And that day came sooner than I had expected.

We had recently received a case for murder, nothing really special, and were told to defend some guy called Larry Butz, which Mia quickly took charge of as usual. However Phoenix objected this time and insisted that he took the case since the defendant was one of his oldest friends. He seemed really determined to take the task on and, after deciding that he was ready for it, Mia handed the case over to him, much to my surprise.

_(Wow, she must really trust him if she's letting him take a case on this soon. I sure hope he's ready for this.)_

In the few days leading up to the trial, I went over all that I had taught Phoenix, making doubly sure that he knew exactly what he was getting himself into. I just didn't want him to fail and give himself a bad name after only one trial. Luckily, he did seem to know everything and have a clear grasp on his intentions which reassured me massively.

_(Thank god he knows what he's doing. I can rest a little easier now. Well, I suppose even if he didn't, I could help him; I will be up there on the bench with him after all.)_

At a rookie's first trial, they needed to take a fellow attorney into court with them to stand at the bench alongside them and assist if necessary. I had already consulted the Chief in advance and we had both agreed that I would be the one to accompany Phoenix into his first trial.

Even now, I remembered my own first trial really vividly, pointing at the witness or prosecution and screaming 'Objection!' at the top of my lungs. That feeling of adrenaline when you outwit someone so much that they break down into tears and start bawling or pull their hair out or hurl a series of curses in your direction. That was my first trial in a nutshell, my first victory; and the Chief was right by my side though it all. It was...quite an experience.

But still, it was a daunting thought, knowing that the roles would be reversed and I would be the one helping as opposed to being helped. I didn't really know what to think but I wanted to believe that I'd do a good job. And even though I was brimming with nerves, I was still pretty excited; I would finally be able to act as a proper mentor to Phoenix after all.

_(I'm probably more nervous than he is. Oh come on Bec, pull yourself together!)_ I reassured myself the day before the trial was to be held, shaking my head vigorously to clear it of negative thoughts.

_(It'll be easy, all you have to do is stand up there next to Phoenix and help him out a bit if it looks like he's struggling. No problems.)_ I quickly nodded to myself, satisfied with that thought and continued working.

However, the next day wasn't going to go as I had expected. Unbeknownst to me, fate wasn't going to let me be a mentor to Phoenix for this trial after all.

**_A/N: Sorry for the really short chapter guys, I hope it's still good for you. Okay, we all know what happens at the trial, right? Or do we? With Rebecca there, anything could happen! You'll just have to see in the next chapter. See you then!_**

**_Gaby :)_**


	9. Disappointment

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Chapter 8

_**A/N: Court time, whoop whoop! It's finally time that I start to incorporate the actual events of the first game into this story. Hope I don't screw any of it up...**_

I strolled through the huge doors into the courthouse with my trusty white and green notebook tucked under my arm, confident that Phoenix's trial today would go well, that he would win.

I had spent the whole morning psyching myself up for this, preparing myself and washing away any remaining doubts that I had. He was going to pull through, I know he was; I believed in his abilities and knew that he would do well up there. After all, if he was struggling at any point, I was going to be there at his side to assist him if necessary. With the two of us handling this case together, nothing was going to go wrong, right? Our combined skills would overcome any obstacles in our way during this trial, I was certain of it.

_(Ok, let's do this thing!)_

After locating the correct defendant lobby within the long, echoing courthouse halls, I drew in a deep breath and shoved open the heavy, wooden door. As it slowly creaked open, the faces concealed inside were gradually revealed. Mia had already arrived and was having a discussion with one of the bailiffs just outside the doors to the courtroom. A man sporting a vibrant orange jacket, wild blonde spiky hair and a matching goatee, who I presumed to be our client, was slumped solemnly on one of the chairs with tears prickling his eyes. Phoenix was nowhere to be seen.

_(Hm, odd. I would have thought that he would be here by now.)_

Upon picking up the sound of my heels clacking on the tiled floor, Mia glanced up from her conversation and beamed a smile at me, which I quickly returned.

"Hi Chief!" I folded my arms and frowned in confusion. I decided to get straight to the point. "Um, wh-where's Phoenix?"

Politely excusing herself from the conversation with the bailiff, she focused all of her attention on me and sighed in frustration, crossing her arms across her chest. "I have no clue. He said that he'd be here 10 minutes ago. I'm starting to get a bit worried."

"Did you try ringing his mobile?" I suggested.

"Yes, twice. But both just went straight to his voicemail. What if he's forgotten about today? What if he just went to the office like usual?"

I could sense the panic in her voice. "Hey, don't worry." I placed my hand on hers in a reassuring manner. "He won't have forgotten, how could he? A first trial isn't something that you just forget, you know. He's probably just missed his bus or something, that's all."

My words seemed to have some effect on her as her smile widened slightly.

"Y-Yeah, you're right Becs. I'm worrying over nothing."

I beamed a grin of success right back at her. "Ok, good. Now, let's just wait here for him, I'm sure he won't be long."

After that, we both perched ourselves on one of the sofas in the lobby and descended into general chatter for a while, like we often did at the office.

I also ventured over to the client and introduced myself to him. Through his tears and sobs, he managed to tell me that his name was Larry and that the victim was his girlfriend. Frankly, it shocked me that a grown man like him was in such as state, especially when he grabbed my forearm and practically begged me to save him from getting a guilty verdict.

"U-Um Larry, wh-what are you doing?" Was all I could say as I shot a worried glance in the Chief's direction mouthing "Help me" and trying to slowly wriggle my wrist out of his grip.

All Mia could do was laugh at me. I stuck my tongue out in her direction and quickly turned back to Larry, eventually managing to soothe him a little and free my trapped hand from his iron grip. Thankfully, I seemed to take Mia's mind off of Phoenix and she had calmed herself down in no time.

A further ten minutes passed before the doors to the hallway finally burst open for a second time. Phoenix dashed through them, red faced and panting heavily. He stood in front of me and the Chief, one hand supporting his back, the other clutching a briefcase so tightly that his knuckles had begun to turn white. Me and Mia jumped up from our seat in surprise.

"H...Hi guys. S-Sorry I'm...late." He stuttered, gasping for air.

"N-Nick? NICK!"

_(Nick? What the-)_

The client sprung up from his seat upon seeing his friend and flung his arms around him, suddenly wailing with streams of tears cascading from his eyes. Phoenix, understandably taken aback by this, gasped in surprise and pain as he was winded even more than he already was.

"H-Hey. Hey there, Larry." He croaked in an oxygen-deprived voice while peeling his friend's arms from around his shoulders.

Once Phoenix had Larry calmed down and sat back on his chair, Mia raced to his side at a surprising speed, her face portraying a mixture of anger and relief. It was strange to see such varied emotions from her, rather than her usual cool and calm demeanour.

"Phoenix! Why on earth are you so late? The trial is due to start in 2 minutes!" She snapped in our colleague's face, causing him to flinch from the volume and menacing tone of her voice.

Also alarmed by her outburst, I placed my hand gently on her shoulder in an attempt to both calm her down again and save Phoenix's nerves from rising to the surface. He was probably worried enough already.

Sensing the contact, Mia's frame relaxed significantly as she sighed and pulled Phoenix into a quick, reassuring hug.

"I'm just relieved that you're finally here."

As the Chief embraced him, Phoenix glanced up at me over her shoulder with a smile on his face. When Mia released him from her grip, he made his way over to where I was stood in front of the sofa.

I clasped my hands behind my back before shooting him a questioning look. "So, are you ready for this?"

He sighed audibly in response and scratched the back of his head. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the Chief continuing her conversation with the bailiff from earlier. Her face looked concerned tinged with slight anger and disappointment.

_(Hmm, I wonder what could be wrong)_

However, I blocked it out of my mind for the moment and continued my own conversation with Phoenix. After another minute, Mia trudged back over to us with a disgruntled sigh. I gave her an inquiring look, silently asking what was wrong.

"It turns out that.." She let out another short sigh. "..you can't go into court with Phoenix, Becs. I have to go as the senior lawyer and owner of our office. I'm so sorry, I know you were really looking forward to this but there's nothing I can do. I tried everything."

I couldn't really believe what I was hearing. All of that preparation, those weeks of work gone into planning our strategy and 'Plan of Action', wasted. Gone. All for nothing. My mouth hung open slightly in shocked silence.

_(Th-That's shocking! Why would they do this to us, it's not fair. Why?!)_

My face began to scrunch up in anger and before I knew what I was doing, I stormed over to the bailiff, scaring the crap out of him with the threatening look on my face, and grabbed his shoulders forcefully.

"Listen pal, I'm meant to be going into that courtroom today. I've prepared for it for weeks with my colleague over there." I gestured to Phoenix behind me. "And now I'm suddenly told that I'm not going to be the one going in because I'm not the boss of our law firm?! What the hell kind of rule is that?! Is there any other way that an exception could be made? Please?" As I was becoming ore desperate, the guy in front of me was becoming more flustered.

"I-I'm sorry miss, th-the regulations s-state that you m-must either be the head of the law firm or have four years of experience. How long have y-you been practising m-miss?"

I sighed deeply, realising that I met neither of the criteria. "Two."

"Th-then there is nothing I can do for you. M-my apologies."

I stared at him for a second, his words slowly sinking in. I finally released my tight grip on his shoulders and backed away to where Mia and Phoenix were stood by the sofa.

"So, how did it go Becs?" Phoenix inquired beside me.

I couldn't answer him.

I crumpled onto the sofa and threw my head into my hands, defeated. I stared at the floor and sighed audibly, avoiding eye contact with everyone, not wishing to speak at all. I remained this way for a while; it was only when I felt a gentle pat on my shoulder and noticed a pair of white high heels entering my peripheral vision that I glanced up and tore myself away from my negative thoughts.

My eyes were met with the pretty face of my boss and good friend who was wearing a small smile of concern.

"Hey, we'll see you in there ok?"

I nodded a little, forcing a tiny smile to assure her that I would be okay. Her own smile widened, revealing her pearl white teeth. Her hand moved up to my head and she stroked my brown hair lightly, as a loving older sister would do, before strolling through the open courtroom doors.

I followed her in with my eyes and sighed at the sight of the courtroom. The judge was prepared, already perched on his raised platform, the prosecutor, who I noticed was the weedy Winston Payne, was raring to go and the gallery was filling up rapidly.

I breathed another heavy sigh. I was supposed to be at the defence bench. I should be up there in my rightful place, experiencing the debates, the action, feeling the thrill and determination of fighting to protect another. Instead, I will be a mere spectator, an observer, a member of the audience. Unfortunately, this was one performance that I would not be participating in.

I groaned in disappointment and replaced my head into my hands once more. But I was forced to look up again as I noticed a second pair of shoes pass by me.

_(Phoenix...I'm so sorry that I couldn't be up there with you but there is nothing that I can do now..)_

I gasped as a thought suddenly entered my head.

(_Or is there..!)_

"Hey, Phoenix!" I called over to him just before he passed through the courtroom doors. He froze mid-walk and craned his neck over his shoulder to face me.

"W-Wait a second!"

Acting upon the idea that had just popped into my head, I flipped open the cover of my green polka dotted notebook in one swift movement and scribbled down a short list on the first clear page I could locate.

**Steps to Courtroom Victory!**

**1\. Listen to the Chief (her word is law, remember)**

**2\. Keep your cool, don't give in to the pressure**

**3\. Point out any lies you can find in the witness's testimony, no matter how small and insignificant they seem. You never know, they could turn the whole case around (trust me, I know)**

**4\. Scream 'Objection!' as loud as you possibly can, don't worry about deafening anyone**

**5\. Make sure you use that awesome dramatic finger point that we perfected back at the office, I may not be next to you at the bench to witness it up close but I still want to see it from the gallery**

**6\. Kick Payne's ass! (do it for me, I'm begging you)**

I neatly but quickly tore it out of the book and handed it over to Phoenix. His eyes skimmed over the words, his brow furrowed slightly from concentration. As he reached the bottom of the page, his smile gradually took over his face and, as his eyes skimmed over the final few words, he broke into a laugh, covering his mouth with his hand to quieten it.

I smiled, unable to hide my happiness.

(_Good, it looks like I was able to calm him down a bit. Just because I'm not at the bench with him doesn't mean that I'm not going to support him in any way that I can.)_

As Phoenix began to gain control of his laughter and rein it in a little, he extended his right hand, the one that wasn't clutching the notebook page, and created a thumbs up sign with it.

"Will do Becs," was all he managed to say before he continued through the huge doors, waving to me as he did so with a grin that stretched from ear to ear on his pale face.

It warmed my heart to see him so happy, especially since it was me who spurred him into that mood. I was now satisfied that I had done all I could now to assist him in the trial; the rest was up to him and the Chief.

As the heavy doors were gradually closed behind them by the two bailiffs, I made my way to the gallery entrance to take my own seat and observe the trial. As I sat down, I whispered a short reassuring thought in my head.

_(I may not be by his side as I thought I would be but, he is still in very capable hands. He's going to win, I know he will!)_

**_A/N: Sorry for bad updating timing (again) but schoolwork is piling up on me, big time. Since we came back after Christmas, coursework has been flung at me left, right and centre and I just haven't had the time to work on this. Sorry. I will try my hardest to manage my time better in the future so that I can have a consistent update schedule for you guys._**

**_Gaby :)_**


	10. Time For the Verdict

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Chapter 9

**_A/N: New chapter, yay! Don't worry guys, I'm not dead; I'm right here with another update. Enjoy! Also, since it is now Easter and I'm off school, expect new updates every 3-4 days, only for the next 2 weeks though, then my update schedule will be every 2 weeks again (I promise). Consider it making up for my awful schedule recently._**

The trial started relatively smoothly; the judge was very calm and patient as he usually is with newbies and did his usual ask-the-rookie-questions-to-see-how-prepared-they-are thing, which Phoenix got through without many problems (thank God).

However, I did panic for a second when he forgot the victim's name but luckily, the Chief pushed him back in the correct direction by making him check the Court Record again to remind himself.

_(Phew, thanks Chief. It's like you're reading my mind; you're doing exactly what I would have done.)_

Payne then gave his outline of the case within the prosecutions opening statement and presented the murder weapon, which appeared to be a miniature version of the famous 'The Thinker' statue.

Then, the questions began, with the defendant himself taking the stand for a bit more information about his past with the victim. He was wearing a confident yet twitchy smirk on his face, having finally stopped his crying. Immediately, Payne began to interrogate him.

"Mr Butz, is it true that the defendant had recently dumped you?"

_(...Not a good idea Payne...)_

"Hey, watch it buddy!" Larry burst out, his mouth widening significantly and his voice rising into a heightened shout.

"We were great together! We were Romeo and Juliet, Cleopatra and Marc Anthony!"

My head fell into my hands with a frustrated sigh.

_(Um...they all died, dumbass..)_

Phoenix was clearly thinking something similar as he suddenly facepalmed at the defence bench, creating a slight echo throughout the room.

"I wasn't dumped." Larry continued, his face turning back to normal. "She just wasn't returning my phone calls, or seeing me. Ever." Then, his face suddenly transformed back into rage-mode.

"WHAT'S IT TO YOU ANYWAY?!"

Then, Payne spoke my thoughts at that moment. "Mr Butz, what you describe is generally what we mean by 'dumped.' In fact, she had completely abandoned you...and was even seeing other men!"

I gasped in shock at Payne's last statement, having never expected anything like that. _(She was seeing other people too? What a backstabbing bitch! Poor Larry...)_

Larry was extremely shocked by this; it seems like he had no idea of what she was doing behind his back, poor guy. According to Payne, these men were 'sugar daddies' and she had just returned from being abroad with one of them the day before she was killed. Larry, of course, rejected all of this information, not accepting any of it.

"Lies! All of it, lies! I don't believe a word of it!" He yelled, clearly clinging tightly onto the hope that Payne was wrong.

However, after presenting her passport that proved that the victim was in Paris until a day before the murder, Larry's attitude to what Payne was saying dramatically altered.

"Dude...no way..." Was all that he could utter when the passport was revealed.

After a little more talking Payne dared to ask the question 'What do you think of her now?' as Larry started to get more and more worked up. I felt my fist clench subconsciously as he spoke, feeling the desire to act on Larry's behalf; Payne was overstepping the mark here. However, before I could, I noticed Mia turn to Phoenix on the other side of the courtroom and whisper something to him that I couldn't hear properly. Phoenix acted fast.

"My client had no idea that the victim was seeing other men! That question is irrelevant to this case!" He yelled at the top of his voice, using the powerful finger-pointing gesture that I taught him. I felt myself start to smile with pride. That was something that he learnt from me; I couldn't help but feel honoured that he actually used it.

Payne winced a little at his unexpected yet fair response, hunching over and beginning to sweat profusely. I mentally celebrated a little as my smile widened.

_(Heh, take that you ass!)_

"Dude! Nick! Whaddya mean 'irrelevant?'" Larry retaliated. "That cheatin' she-dog! I'm gonna die. I'm just gonna drop dead. Yeah, and when I meet her in the afterlife, In going to get to the bottom of this!" As he finished speaking, the entire courtroom's volume decreased until no one, me included, dared to speak, probably due to plain shock.

Sensing the awkward atmosphere, the judge quickly moved the trial along, with Payne now focussing on Larry's presence at the crime scene.

Larry was a pretty stupid guy, I realised, because he kept trying to avoid answering questions, responding with dumb things such as 'Well, maybe I did and maybe I didn't' in order to save himself without putting any trust in Phoenix or the truth.

_(Just trust your friend, dammit! It's what he's there for!)_ I ran my fingers through my hair as Larry attempted to deny his presence at the crime scene yet again.

Phoenix, obviously becoming frustrated too, decided to send him some odd signals that I assumed was some sort of friendship language..thing that they'd developed as children. Either way, I had no idea what Phoenix was trying to communicate to his friend through the gestures that he was using.

Fortunately though, Larry did.

"Er...Yeah! Yeah! I was there! I went!" He confessed, triggering a lot of commotion within the gallery as people discussed this new development. However, they were swiftly silenced as the judge called for order once again.

Larry, starting to look flustered again, attempted to talk himself out of this new bind by claiming that the victim wasn't home when he visited therefore he couldn't have murdered her.

Payne, however, objected to this (in his screechy, worse-than-nails-on-a-chalkboard voice that grinds through me everytime he opens his mouth) and said that he could prove that Larry was lying here by calling a witness, the man who found the victim's body.

This set the crowd of spectators off once more, people around me debating with each other over who was right whilst I simply remained silent and believed in Larry.

_(I can tell he's not guilty; Phoenix wouldn't put so much faith in him if he knew that the man had really done it. I trust my friend's judgement.)_

As the judge regained order with his trusty gavel, Payne summoned his witness, who was some odd dude called Frank Sahwit (unfortunate name), sporting a purple suit and an EXTREMELY cheesy grin that was clearly fake.

I could tell by the way that Sahwit was swaying and apparently shaking that he wasn't an ordinary, innocent witness. I studied him closely, glaring down at him from my position in the gallery like a hawk studying its prey.

_(Hmm...I'm calling it right now that he's the real murderer in this case. No question, he just seems too nervous to be totally innocent.)_

He gave his testimony, explaining how he noticed Larry leaving the victim's apartment and looked in through the half-open door and discovering the corpse. He seemed pretty confident in himself, clearly believing that there was nothing wrong with his version of the events. Mia quickly went over cross examination for the final time and then, it was all up to Phoenix.

Personally, I noticed the contradiction right away; the autopsy told that the time of death was 4-5pm whereas Sahwit claimed that it was at 1pm. However, it took Phoenix a little longer to figure out. Eventually though, he did make the right connection, screaming 'OBJECTION!' as loud as he could before pursuing his point.

"You found the body at 1pm. You're sure?"

Sawhit remained calm. "Yes. It was 1pm, for certain."

Phoenix slammed his desk with a large amount of force, creating an echo throughout the courtroom. "Frankly, I find that hard to believe! Your statement directly contradicts the autopsy report. The autopsy notes the time of death at sometime after 4pm. There was nobody to...er...no 'body' to find at 1pm. How do you explain this 3 hour gap?" He finished, smirking a little as Sawhit began to squirm.

"Oh, that! Oh...er..."

_(Hah, yes! Aaaand this is the part where the witness crumbles and-)_

"OBJECTION!" Came the shriek from across the room.

_(Damn you Payne!) _I growled a little in annoyance, earning a few confused glances from the people around me.

"This is trivial! The witness merely forgot the time!" The prosecutor blurted in an attempt to defend the witness and maintain his reliability.

However, the judge disagreed, claiming that it was hard to believe since Mr Sahwit seemed so certain of the time in his testimony. Payne debated with him a little though, and the judge allowed for Sahwit to give his testimony again.

And, as I knew he would, he lied. Again.

The contradiction this time was that he claimed that he heard the time on a television programme that the victim was watching before she died, even though there was a blackout in the building at that time. Phoenix pointed it out without much effort, pleasing me greatly.

_(Good, he's getting the hang of this.)_

When asked to explain it, Sahwit panicked (again) before quickly correcting himself and asking to revise his testimony (again). And of course, the naive, gullible judge was easily convinced into letting him testify for a third time. I sighed in frustration.

_(Honestly, sometimes that judge really irritates me; he just buys into any scenario fed to him and will let witnesses testify as many times as they want. Despite that, he DOES always hand down the correct, just verdict so, I can't really criticise him for that, I suppose.)_

And, predictable as ever, Sahwit slipped up again. This time, he told that the murder weapon was a clock for some reason, even though it was quite clearly a statue.

"Wait a moment! The murder weapon wasn't a clock. It was this statue! Now how is this supposed to be a clock?" Phoenix demanded to know, slamming his hands on his desk with gusto.

Although flustered, Sahwit still maintained his claim that the weapon was a clock and, to my surprise, Payne backed him up this time.

"As the witness stated, this statue is indeed a clock. The neck is a switch. You just tilt it, and it says the time out loud. As it doesn't look like a clock, I submitted it as a statue. My apologies." He stuttered, sweat beginning to bead on his wrinkled forehead.

The judge bought this (surprise, surprise) and asked Phoenix if there were any problems with this claim now. However, like I did, Phoenix spotted a problem.

"Your Honour, there is a gaping hole in the witness's testimony! The only way he could have known the weapon was a clock is to hold it in his hand. Yet, the witness testified that he never entered the apartment! Clearly, a contradiction!" He exclaimed, pulling out that awesome, dramatic finger point again.

This made him come to the conclusion that Sahwit must have entered the apartment in order to learn that the weapon was, in reality, a clock.

"Oh yeah! Prove it! Prove I went in there!" Sahwit snapped, trying his hardest to dig himself out of this predicament.

"I can do better than that! I can prove you were the one who killed her!" Phoenix shouted, determination flowing within his voice.

"You struck her with the clock, and the shock of the blow triggered the clock's voice. That was the sound that you heard!"

Once again, the people surrounding me burst to life with conversation over this new revelation and the fact that this man was looking more and more guilty by the second. I grinned widely and celebrated with a small fist pump.

_(Yes! Called it!)_

Order was swiftly restored with a few bashes of the judge's gavel and Phoenix continued. I smirked with anticipation, knowing what was about to come.

_(Come on Phoenix, drive it home now. Make him crack!)_

"Mr Sahwit. The sound must have left quite an impression on you. Understandable, since the murder weapon spoke just as you hit the victim! That voice was burned into your mind. That's why you were so certain about the time!"

After Payne tried and failed to dispute Phoenix's claims, the judge asked if Sahwit really struck the victim. Then, it was time.

"I...I...! That...that day... I...I never! Look... I... the clock... I heard, no! I mean, I saw...Saw... nggg!"

What happened after that shocked the entire courtroom, even me.

Sahwit lifted a hand up to his head, grabbed his toupee, which until then I had assumed to be his real hair, and tossed it straight at Phoenix, hitting him square in the face and catching him completely off guard. Sahwit growled threateningly at Phoenix, clutching the collar of his own shirt tightly in his crazed hands.

"Shutupshutupshutup! I hate you! I-it was him, I tell you! I saw him! H-he killed her and he should burn! Burn! Give him death!"

_(Yeah, no one's gonna buy that story anymore buddy. I think it's time to give it up.)_

"Your Honour, a-a moment please!" Payne finally spoke up, after a while in silence. "There isn't a shred of evidence supporting the defence's claims!"

The judge turned to face Phoenix, doing a complete 180 in his seat. "Mr Wright! You claim the sound the witness heard came from the clock... Do you have any evidence?"

Phoenix stood for a second deep in thought, aware of what was riding on his response, before declaring that the claim could be proved by simply sounding the clock in the court. After Phoenix pressed the button, the entire court waited with baited breath, awaiting the words that could decide the verdict of the client.

'I think it's 8:25'

"That certainly is a strange way to announce the time!" The judge exclaimed, eyes wide and evidently taken aback by the clock's voice.

"Well, he is 'The Thinker' after all." Phoenix replied.

"So, we've heard the clock. What are your conclusions Mr Wright?" The judge asked, wishing to know the meaning behind Phoenix's actions.

Smirking a little, Phoenix turned his attention to the man standing opposite him.

"Mr Payne...can you tell me what time it is now?"

Payne quickly checked the watch on his left wrist before answering Phoenix's question. "It's 11:25... Ack!" He gasped in sudden realisation of what this meant, his brow becoming damp once more.

"As you can see, this clock is exactly three hours slow! Precisely the discrepancy between the time that Mr Sahwit heard and the actual time of death! So, Mr Sahwit..."

He raised his head up in the witness's direction with a knowing smirk on his face.

"Try to talk your way out of this one!"

However, Sahwit simply laughed. An odd, maniacal kind of laughter that made me feel strangely uneasy. It was as if he had figured out yet another escape route.

"While it may seem like that clock IS running three hours slow, it proves nothing! How do you know it was running three hours slow on the day of the murder?! If you can't prove that, you don't have a case!"

Unsurprisingly caught off guard, I noticed Phoenix's face fall. He truly believed that showing the clock's delay would have unveiled this man as the criminal that he is. And I could see the clear disappointment in his eyes at his failure here. Then, disappointment turned to mass panic as he scrambled to find something, anything, to back up his accusations. But the judge's authorative, deep voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Mr Wright, it seems you lack the critical evidence to support your claim, meaning that I cannot let you indict the witness."

Phoenix's head fell into his hands a moment later, making a light 'clunck' on the defence bench. Mia's hand delicately touched the top of his back in an attempt to comfort him slightly. Noticing this reaction from the other side of the room, Payne sneered mockingly.

"Heh, you came SO close to defeating the 'Rookie Killer' but, like all of the rest, you fell at the last hurdle. So sad. Serves you right for having such high hopes for yourself." Payne mocked, revelling in Phoenix's slip up.

_(How DARE he! That complete DOUCHE!)_

I felt anger bubbling up inside me and, before I knew what I as doing, I had opened my mouth. Despite the fact that I was in the gallery, I stood and yelled at the top of my voice as I would if I was positioned at the bench.

**OH HELL NO!**

I swiftly ripped a clean page from my notepad, balled in up in my clenched fist and launched it as hard as I could towards Mr Payne, hitting him square in the face and earning a wave of gasps and shock travelling through the courtroom. I praised myself for that well aimed shot for a split second before reverting my attention back to the prosecution's bench.

"Oh Payne, stop being a tit! This is his first trial for heaven's sake, quit acting like he should know everything inside out! And I'm sure we all would appreciate it if you stopped being so bloody cocky; we all know that new defence lawyers have escaped your grasp before, 'Rookie Killer'." I glanced over at Mia as I made that last statement, shooting her a quick smile. She seemed very taken aback at first because of my outburst but eventually returned my gesture. I also noticed Phoenix next to her, who was trying as hard as he could to stifle his laughter. I grinned, satisfied, before sitting back down.

"I-I say! Well, I believe that Miss Moore has made her point. Mr Payne, do you have a rebuttal?" The judge inquired, seemingly eager to see what Payne's retaliation would be to my sudden outburst. However, as I expected, no words came out of the prosecutor's tight-lipped mouth.

"I-I...well, I...n-no, Your Honour." He sighed in defeat before slumping his shoulders and glaring up at me in a disgusted manner. I responded with a sarcastic, unnecessarily cheesy grin and a small wave. He grunted slightly and rolled his eyes before finally turning his attention back to the witness.

_(Oh god, do I love teasing this guy. He just gets so frustrated so easily, it's hilarious!)_

As I sat back down, I noted that the people in the gallery were all now staring at me in complete disbelief. I simply shrugged my shoulders at them.

"What are you lot looking at? He was the one bullying my colleague, I believe I had a right to say something. Now stop staring at me with those stupid looks on your faces, go on."

They all swiftly focused their attention back onto the trial out of embarrassment, not daring to make eye contact again.

Noticing their reactions, I smirked to myself.

_(Yeah, you'd better look away...judgemental asses)_

Focussing my attention back to the trial, I noticed that Phoenix was now trying to figure out how to prove his assertion, with a bit of help from the Chief. I noticed them conversing for around a minute before Phoenix appeared to have an epiphany. He brought out the victim's passport again and presented it to the court.

"The victim had just returned home from abroad the day before the murder. As we all know, the time difference between here and Paris is nine hours! When it's 4pm here, it's 1am the next day there. The clock wasn't three hours slow, it was nine hours fast! The victim hadn't reset her clock since returning home! That's why the time you heard when you struck her dead in her apartment was wrong! Proof enough for you Mr Sahwit? Or should I say...Mr Did It!"

Chuckling a little at Phoenix's witty comment, I realised that he had finally cornered Mr Sahwit. There was NO WAY that he could weasel his way out of it.

_(Now, let's watch the guy break down, shall we? This should be fun...)_

"Ngh..!" Was all Mr Sahwit cold say before his breathing became faster and he eventually collapsed to the floor, foaming at the mouth.

He was then arrested on the spot and removed from the courtroom, still unconscious. Payne looked devastated.

_(Hah, screw you Payne! Serves you right!)_

Meanwhile, the judge praised Phoenix on his defence and deduction skill, making me feel immensely proud to have been one of his mentors. I felt like I had hugely contributed in making him into the lawyer that he has become, therefore a compliment to him was also a compliment to me.

Then, the judge spoke once more. "This court finds the defendant, Larry Butz..."

And then, the words that I had been awaiting, the two words that I had been longing to hear today were finally spoken.

'NOT GUILTY'

As the confetti began to fall from...somewhere (two years, it's been TWO YEARS and I still haven't figured out where it comes from yet) and the people around me started clapping their hands together, I went that extra step further by rising from my seat and cheering as loudly as I could.

"Woo, go Phoenix!" I exclaimed at the top of my lungs, earning a few shocked, weirded out glances from nearby people. But, to be honest, I couldn't have cared less. My colleague had just won his first trial and I was happy for him; their opinions of my actions meant nothing to me.

After a few minutes of cheering and whooping, the confetti stopped falling, the judge dismissed the court and people began to file out of the gallery.

"Well done guys!"

I burst into the defendant lobby with a skip in my step and a wide grin on my face to see all three of the other people in there deep in conversation. I threw my arms up in the air and raced towards Phoenix, dragging him into a tight hug.

"Congrats Phoenix, you did really well in there. Good job."

"Thanks a lot Becs. Well done for putting Payne in his place for me."

I responded with a small laugh, tickled slightly by his comment. "Your welcome."

We stayed like this for around half a minute or so, comfortable in each other's embrace, neither one of us particularly wishing to let go of the other. We remained this way, until...

"H-Hey, are you guys...you know...dating or something?" We were interrupted by Larry, who was standing nearby shuffling his feet awkwardly on the floor. Taken aback by his question, I quickly released Phoenix and stepped back from him a little, shaking my head.

"Oh, no no no. He's just my colleague and friend, that's all. Nothing more." I could feel myself starting to blush; my face was starting to warm up involuntarily.

_(Nope, don't do this to me cheeks! Don't you dare betray me!)_

A wry smile appeared on Larry's face. "Are you sure? Because your cheeks seem to be telling me otherwise."

_(...Screw you cheeks.)_

I rolled my eyes, not knowing how to respond to his comment and hoping that he would just leave me be.

Luckily, Phoenix noticed and jumped in to defend me.

"Larry, there's nothing going on, ok? Now, leave us alone."

Larry's playful smirk widened. "Are you sure? Because you seemed to be very quick to defend her there, Nick."

"It's my attorney instincts at work, ok?!" Phoenix snapped, beginning to get a little agitated and uncomfortable with Larry's questions. Larry stepped back a little at this, holding his hands up in the air in a mock surrender pose.

"Okay, okay Nick. It was just a joke, man." Then, he approached me whilst scratching the back of his head lightly, similar to what Phoenix occasionally did when nervous. He seemed to be very careful to stand on my right side, which was now turning away from Phoenix. "Well, if you're not going out with him, how about you and me go out some ti-"

"Larry, I said leave her alone!" It seemed that his attempt at keeping Phoenix out of this was a failure. And this time, Larry appeared to have listened to what he had to say. He winced a little at the harsh tone of his friend and instantly turned his face away from me before slowly walking away with his head down and a solemn expression on his pale face. However, as soon as he noticed Mia alone at the other side of the room, his face lit up again like a child at Christmas and he darted over to her at a remarkable speed, grinning madly.

I rolled my eyes again and rejoined Phoenix by the couch. He was leant against the wall casually with one hand resting on the arm of the chair.

"He just doesn't quit, does he?"

He shook his head slowly, taking his hand off the sofa's arm and folding it neatly across his chest along with the other. "Nope. That's Larry, he isn't put off by anything or anyone. It's one of his best qualities, actually." I chuckled lightly. He turned to smile at me before continuing.

"You know when I was talking about those two boys that helped me at my other school when everyone accused me of stealing lunch money?" I nodded in confirmation, having a vague idea of where he was going with this. "Well...Larry was one of them."

Even though I saw it coming, that fact surprised me. It just didn't comprehend that Larry was brave enough to stand up for Phoenix in a time of need and when all of his other classmates apart from one other were opposing him. He just didn't seem like that kind of person. If anything, he seemed like one of the kids who would have been teasing Phoenix, not one of his saviours.

My shock must have been showing on my face as Phoenix noticed my silent state and chuckled lightly. "Heh, I know right? He doesn't seem like that kind of guy, does he?"

I shook my head lightly with a small smile. "Nope, never would have guessed."

"Well.." He pushed himself off the wall back into a standing position, sighing with the effort.

"..people can surprise you sometimes."

Leaving those words lingering in the air, he began to wander in the direction of Mia and Larry, where they were in the middle of another conversation of their own. As I pondered the meaning of his final sentence, he engaged himself into their conversation pretty quickly and, feeling a little left out, I eventually made my way over too.

Just as I approached, Larry appeared to be bringing something out of a large bag that he had brought with him to the trial with a huge grin spread across his face. Something that was very familiar to the other three of us, something that we had seen before mere minutes ago. And I, along with Mia, gasped in shock upon seeing it.

It was a Thinker statue, identical to the one from the trial.

To everyone's surprise, he held it out in Mia's general direction with a small smile. "Here, take this! It's a present!"

"A-A present? For me?" Mia seemed genuinely taken aback by his offer.

I, however, lost my cool entirely for a moment and cried out in terror. "Ahhh, it's the murder weapon! What the hell do you think you're doing Larry, you imbecile?!" He recoiled in fright, clutching the statue protectively.

"H-Hey! I-It's not the same clock! It's the one that I made for myself. I-I made two, one for me and one for her. I-It's perfectly safe, h-honest!" He slowly released the tension in his arms, recomposed himself and held the statue back out to the Chief, who cautiously took it off him with a grateful smile on her face that I could tell was forced. Luckily, Larry didn't seem to notice.

"R-Really? You? You made this?"

This seemed to satisfy him enough.

"Y-Yeah. I just kind of figured that I don't need it anymore so..." He trailed off, not entirely sure of how to finish his sentence. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, in a similar fashion to how Phoenix does.

_(Wow, they really are friends. They even scratch their heads in the same way!)_

"Well, um...thank you. I-I'll keep it as a memento." Mia was obviously starting to feel a little awkward too as a heavy silence fell over us, trapping us. Eventually, Larry dragged Phoenix aside and started having a private conversation with him, prompting Mia to say something to me.

"U-um, Becs?"

"Yeah Chief, what's the problem?"

She quickly glanced either side of us, ensuring that we had no eavesdroppers, before lowering her voice to a whisper.

"Do you remember what I discussed with you and Maya a few months ago? About that blackmailer?"

I pondered over her words for a second before it clicked, my mind making a connection. "Yeah, I remember. What about him?" I whispered back, not daring to heighten my voice any more than she had.

"Well..." She took another glance around the room before continuing. "...I have some stuff on him now, incriminating stuff. I'm gonna ask Maya to keep hold of it for me but I wanted to tell you as well. I may have some other stuff that you need to hold onto so I'll let you know if you're needed too. Okay?"

As she leaned away from my ear, I gave her a thumbs up sign and a large grin to reassure her before mouthing 'Just here to help!'

She smiled and giggled a little before mouthing a 'Thank you' in return.

Making our way back to Larry and Phoenix, we noticed that Larry was sobbing again, claiming that his dead girlfriend didn't actually care about him if she was willing to cheat on him with other men. Overhearing this, Mia retaliated.

"Are you so sure? I think that she thought a lot of you, in her own way."

_(What? What's she getting at?)_

"It's okay, you don't have to sympathise with me." Larry laughed a little, trying to stop Mia from pursuing this line of conversation. However, she was persistent.

"No, I'm not sympathising; I'm serious."

_(Wait! Maybe...THAT is what she means.)_

"She's right. And you can prove it Phoenix!" Finally catching on to what the Chief meant, I urged Phoenix to show Larry that his girlfriend really did care for him.

"What?" Phoenix looked at me and Mia with a confused expression.

"You have evidence of Cindy's appreciation of Larry. Go on, present it already!"

"I don't know that you're talking about though!" He insisted, genuinely puzzled.

"Think about it Wright, what did Larry give her that she treasured?" Mia prompted, attempting to get Phoenix to see what we were implying.

After a few more seconds, realisation hit and he brought out the piece of evidence that proved our point.

"Oh, yeah! Right. Here you go Larry! Proof Positive that you weren't just some chump to her."

And the correct piece of evidence was...

"Huh? Where'd you get that clock?" Larry starred at the object in his friend's hands, puzzled.

With slight frustration, Phoenix rolled his eyes at his stupidity. "This is the clock you made for her Larry! She took it with her when she travelled."

"Hmm, she probably just needed a clock, that's all." Larry stated, scratching the back of his neck.

"You think so? It's a pretty heavy clock to take travelling."

Larry didn't respond.

"Well, make of it what you will."

Turning away from Larry, the Chief and Phoenix started to discuss the possibility of another meal out, which I was more than happy to attend. Phoenix promised that we would talk more about his past with Larry and his reasons for becoming an attorney, which interested me greatly. And, while I didn't say so at the time, I also had something that I needed to inform him about too, about my own past and family. The Chief already knew what I was planning to say but I felt that I should also inform Phoenix as I felt that I could trust him enough now. But, it would have to wait until then. For now, I will join in with the celebrations and distract myself from the thoughts beginning to return; dark memories from the past that I wished to suppress until we all met up for dinner.

Yes, I will keep it until then. When that day comes, I will tell my story.

**_A/N: The trial is finally. Freaking. OVER! God, you have no idea how time consuming it was copying out line after line. This is why it may seem a little lacking in detail; I got sick of copying out lines after a while, haha. Anyway, hope you still enjoyed. I'll try to update again before half term is over. See ya!_**

**_Gaby :)_**


	11. Making Arrangements

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Chapter 10

**_A/N: Okay, you may be wondering: "What is this? gb_llama updated AND IT'S AT THE TIME THAT SHE TOLD US?" Well, my answer to that is..."Hell yeah guys! I'm finally getting my crap together!" I'm gonna try my hardest to maintain my original update schedule of every 2 weeks. It'll be tricky but hopefully I can do it. Anywho, here's the new chapter!_**

**THE NEXT EVENING:**

Within an apartment a couple of hundred miles away from the Fey and Co. Law Offices, a small pink mobile phone started to vibrate wildly, signalling a call coming in. The inhabitant of said apartment, a young girl in a purple outfit, perched herself on the edge of her bed and picked up the phone, smiling as she noticed who was wishing to contact her. She pressed the green button eagerly.

Maya: Hey Sis, what's up?

Mia: Hi Maya, just thought I'd see how you were doing.

Maya: Well, I'm doing okay thanks. A little lonely but I'm getting used to it now.

Mia: Good, good.

Maya noticed that her sister's tone was different to usual. She seemed a little more...upbeat, and something had put her in that mood. Curiosity overcoming her, she decided to ask about it.

Maya: You seem pretty happy today Sis, has something happened?

Mia: Wh-what? Um, well...

As Mia started to get a little flustered after getting caught off guard, Maya sighed lightly and attempted to pry the answer out of her.

Maya: Sis?

She heard a short sigh in defeat from the other side of the phone.

Mia: Nothing gets past you, does it?

Maya: Nope! Not when Detective Maya is on the case, haha!

Mia giggled a little in response to her sister's silliness.

Maya: So? Spill. What's happened?

Mia: Well, um, yesterday was my subordinate's first time in court and-

Maya: Wait, wait. Hold on a second. Hasn't Becky been a lawyer for a while now? Why would her first time in court have been yesterday?

Mia laughed heartily down the receiver, throwing Maya into a pit of confusion.

Mia: No, silly! My OTHER subordinate. You know, that guy I was talking about before.

Maya: ...I have NO idea what you are going on about.

Frustration grew at the other end of the line.

Mia: You know! I told you I was getting a new employee? A man around Becs' age?

Suddenly, recollection struck and the cloud gathering in Maya's mind began to fade.

Maya: Ah, right, right. I remember now. Sorry, had a little bit of a mind blank! So, he had his first trial yesterday? How did it go?

Mia: It was quite the scene! Honestly, I was on edge the whole time, and I'm sure Becs was too. It's been a while, for both of us...

Maya: Hah! So, he crashed and burned?

Her sister's response took her off guard. It was nothing like what she was expecting, the complete opposite in fact.

Mia: ...He's a genius. One of those 'strike fear into the hearts of evil' types. The only thing he's lacking is...experience.

Maya: Huh, sounds like it was fun! Well, I know who to go to if I ever get into trouble now!

Mia: I don't know Maya. I think you might want to wait...give him three more years. That is, unless you want to be found guilty. Stick with me and Becs for now.

Maya: O-Okay, sure!

Mia: He sure has a lot of potential though, he could grow into a fantastic lawyer. And Becs is doing such a good job training him up. She's a better teacher than I thought she would be.

Maya: Really? How so?

Mia: Well...I expected her to be a little more impatient and wasn't sure that they'd be able to get along very well. But, she's really surprised me. They both adore each other and she has an unexpected amount of patience with him. She's been very mature about the whole thing. I'm proud of her.

A wave of happiness came over Maya suddenly. She was pleased that things were going so well. Even though she had only met Becky a few times, she was quite fond of her and it warmed her heart to hear at she was getting on well with her new colleague and enjoying teaching him about defending.

Maya: Wow, I'm glad!

Mia: Oh! And, um, I'll need you to take care of some more evidence for me, you know, about that guy I told you about before.

Maya sighed a little into the mouthpiece. This was the third time that her sister had asked for her assistance after she told her about her predicament a few months previous. She was more than willing to comply though; if it would help her sister out, it was well worth it.

Maya: Yeah, ok Sis.

Mia: Thanks. I've asked Becs to help out a little too but I feel that the evidence will be safer with you since you live further away and don't see me everyday like she does.

Maya: Yeah, I understand. Just...mail it to me or something.

Mia: Okay. And we will have meet up soon as well. We haven't seen each other for too long.

Maya: Yes, definitely! Oh, and can Becky come?

Mia: Haha, of course. And you can meet Phoenix too.

Maya: Phoenix?

Mia: The new colleague.

Maya: Ah, ok. Yeah, sounds like a plan. Okay then, bye Sis!

Mia: Goodbye Maya. I'll speak to you soon.

***Beep***

_"Conservation recorded: August 4th 5:34pm" _

...

**32 DAYS LATER:**

Maya: Hello? This is Maya.

Mia: Hey Maya, it's me.

Maya grinned widely at the familiarity of the caller's voice.

Maya: Mia! What's up? You haven't called in a while.

Mia: Sorry, I've been so busy. How you been?

Maya: Well, LONELY. And it's all YOUR fault. Nah, I'm just teasing. I've been great! I'm finally getting used to having my own place!

Mia: That's good to hear. Actually, I'm calling because I have a favour to ask.

Maya: I know, I know. You want me to hold evidence for you?

Mia: Sharp as always! There's a lot of buzz about the upcoming trial... I just don't feel safe keeping the evidence here. And don't worry, Becs knows too.

Maya: I gotcha. So, what it is this time?

Mia: It's...a clock.

Maya: A clock?

Mia: Yeah, it's made to look like that statue, 'The Thinker' and it tells you the time! I thought you might like it, you always liked toys.

Maya: Hey! I'm no a little kid anymore, Sis!

Mia: Now, now. You know I'm only teasing. Ah, I should probably tell you, the clock isn't talks right now.

Maya: Huh, it's not working? That's lame.

Mia: I had to take the clockwork out. Sorry. I put do,e papers inside it instead.

Maya: Papers? Is that the evidence then? Hmm, well...there's a possibility it might turn out that way, yes.

Mia: Can you come by the office tonight, say 9:00 to pick it up? I'll be in a pretreat meeting until then. Maybe then you finally meet my new colleague. And see Becs again, of course.

Maya: Okay Sis, but I expect dinner! Something good. Like...burgers! I could really go for a good burger.

Mia: Okay, okay. We'll hit the usual joint.

Maya: Alright, it's a deal! Okay, Sis. See you soon!

Mia: Yep, we'll be waiting Maya.

***Beep***

_"Conversation recorded: September 5th 9:27am"_

_**A/N: Yeah, it's only short. But it's a chapter that had to be done. The next one will be when everything kicks off so, prepare for that! I'll try to get that one up on time as well. See you then!**_

_**Gaby :)**_


	12. Not As Planned

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Chapter 11

**_A/N: Woohoo! On time again guys! I'm getting back into the swing of things now. I should be able to update on Thursday and then again on Sunday. After that, though, it'll be every fortnight as I'll be back at school by then and have less time to write. This is the chapter where...well, I won't say anymore. You'll just have to read to see, won't you? I'll just shut up now and just let you read..._**

**THAT NIGHT:**

Phoenix had gone home for the night, apparently having something he had to do at home before we met back up with Maya, so it was just me and the Chief, working on an upcoming case together. And it was a good job that he left as well because the case that we were working on was all linked to Bluecorp, the organisation that the Chief was hot on the trail of. I suspect that that's the only reason why she so willingly complied to Phoenix's request of leaving early. After all, she still hadn't informed him and currently had no intentions of doing so in order to relieve him of any pressures and keep the amount of people in the loop to an absolute minimum.

This specific case was of an apparent murder but the Chief had gathered proof that the victim was being blackmailed by Bluecorp, forcing him to kill himself. She was hoping that this evidence would be enough to incriminate the company and its CEO for a long time. She had stashed it away inside the Thinker clock that she received at Phoenix's first trial a month ago to give to Maya for safekeeping until the time of the trial arrived.

For now, though, we were just engaged in light chatter whilst we began to build a case around the all important papers detailing the blackmailing. We had already decided that Mia would be the one to head the case but were now deciding how to structure our points and refute any possible claims given by the prosecution that could harm us.

"Okay, so here's what we have so far." Mia spoke, catching my attention instantly. "You'll be standing at the bench with me in case I need any help. It'll have to be you as Phoenix only has one trial under his belt and you have far more knowledge of Bluecorp than him. We won't address the incriminating papers instantly and give it away to the prosecution too soon but, as soon as we are asked for proof of our accusations, we'll reveal them. Sound good so far?"

I nodded in confirmation.

"I can't wait to see the prosecution's face when we bring those papers out. It's gonna be priceless!"

Mia giggled lightly. "Yes, I'm sure it will be. It'll certainly be one of the highlights of the trial. However, I'm more interested in seeing how the leader of Bluecorp will react at watching his blackmailing plots crumble into dust. That'll be MY highlight. All of this work I've put in will finally pay off."

I smiled. I could understand where she was coming from entirely. It must be frustrating putting such a lot of effort into uncovering Bluecorp's crimes and have no results. However, after over 9 months of searching, the truth is finally able to come to light. The Chief must be so proud of herself.

_(I wish I could feel that one day. It seems like an amazing feeling to have, success after a lot of trying. Well, hopefully, I will feel it soon...along with my brother...)_

Out of nowhere, there was a sudden knock on the door, immediately grasping the attention of both of us. We exchanged confused glances for a second before Mia stood up from her desk, ventured around the corner and approached the door in order to answer it.

_(Who would come to our office at quarter to 9 at night, surely they would come during daylight to ask for our help?)_

I brushed the thought out of my mind and carried on with my own work but at the same time, I was listening out for anything of interest in their conversation, just in case the Chief needed any assistance. The creak of the door opening was what hit my eardrums first followed by a few seconds of silence until Mia finally spoke, but I couldn't make out what she had said.

The voice on the other side of the door was much louder and clearer than the Chief's had been. It definitely a male voice judging by the deep tone there was to it and he replied to her with a sinister sneer, "Now, Miss Fey, I'll take what's mine...the papers."

"I'm sorry, but I can't give you what I don't have." Mia's voice was strong with resolve and yet shook slightly with fear and nerves. I got the feeling that the man at the door wasn't just another person wishing to request defence services. But then, I had already made that conclusion when I noticed the time that this guy chose to visit; this only strengthened the possibility of my hypothesis.

"Miss Fey, you are a poor liar. Why, I see it right over there...that must be 'The Thinker' that swallowed those papers."

The Chief gasped in shock at the fact that this man knew about the crucial evidence, practically in sync with my own surprised gasp. "How could you know...?"

"Ho hoh." The man laughed, an odd, unrealistic laugh that seemed dreadfully forced. "You are not cogniferous of my background? Gathering information is my business, you see."

_(Wh-what? Could...could this guy be a part of Bluecorp?! It certainly seems plausible...)_

"I-I should have been more careful." Mia sighed in defeat, clearly disappointed with herself for not keeping the evidence safe enough.

"Ho hoh. My dear Miss Fey...I'm so very sorry, but I am afraid I must ask you for one more thing.." The man paused for a couple of seconds before breathing his last sentence in an even more sinister tone than before. It set my teeth on edge and sent a nervous shiver up my spine.

"Your eternal silence. Farewell Miss Fey." Those words and Mia's scream immediately after were what propelled me into the room. And the scene I saw made my heart stop. The man had grabbed the Thinker clock thing from the chief's desk and was starting to make his way towards her, a sadistic grin plastered on his face. For a second, he reminded me of Drew Hill, that bully that I saved Phoenix from 16 years ago.

Except this time, there was a lot more at stake. This guy was clearly capable of so much more.

Upon noticing me in the doorway, the Chief widened her eyes and quickly gave me a signal by mouthing the word 'Run'. I shook my head at her with determination. I wasn't going to run; I couldn't let my boss be killed right in front of me without doing anything to stop it! As I saw Mia back away from the purple haired man, I noticed that she had backed into the glass light stand in the corner of the room and had gotten herself trapped between it and her own desk. She looked around helplessly for a way out but it seemed that there wasn't one. As she was occupied, the guy with the statue in his hand raised it, seeing an opportunity.

This was my chance. If I was going to do anything, it would have to be now. Not really thinking straight, I did the first thing that I could think of that would help Mia, something that I knew had worked in a similar situation beforehand.

"NOOOO!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I raced forwards.

"W-What the-?"

"Becs-"

I charged towards the two of them, specifically through the gap between them where the Thinker was about to strike. I wasn't going to let the Chief get beaten to death by that monster; she'd done nothing wrong!

The next moment, I felt an enormous amount of pain rush through my shoulder and down my back, stopping at around my torso area. I dropped to the ground almost instantly with the pain forcing me to let out a scream as I fell. I tried to force my body back into a standing position but it was no use, my shoulder was burning like hell and my back was locked into place; I couldn't move either of them at all. I couldn't stand up.

Upon witnessing my injured form, the Chief gasped in horror, clearly shocked that I would do something like that in order to spare her life.

"Becs, what are you-"

Before she could say anything else, I slowly lifted my weighted head off the office floor and l stared at her directly in the eye, cutting her off. My one good arm quaked underneath me as I held myself up to look at her terrified face.

"R-Run Chief, g-go-" Unable to say anymore, my arm gave way and my head dropped back down to the floor once more, my face falling in such a way that Mia's office desk now blocked my view. I would have moved closer so that I could see the scene unfolding before me but all of my strength and energy had been drained from my body from that hit. There was nothing more I could do now but listen.

"Hmph, pathetic. As if YOU thought you could take on someone as splendiferous as I! Now, where were we, Ms Fey?" I heard the man snarl in my direction as he turned his attention back to Mia.

_(That asshole is mocking me! Grrr, if I had the strength right now, I'd-)_

I heard footsteps, presumably the Chief's, swiftly moving in the direction of the office door. I breathed a small sigh of relief, glad that she took my advice. But, the man seemed to follow her. I listened closely but all I could hear were their footsteps and Mia's panicked breaths, completely in sync with my own.

However, the next noise I heard was very different, it was the kind that would haunt me for the rest of my life. It was the sound of the Thinker striking for a second time. The sickening noise it made as it came into contact with flesh.

The sound of death.

I squeezed my eyes shut in terror and clenched my teeth together to stop myself from sobbing. I knew what had just happened; even with a lack of sight, there was no mistaking what had just occurred. But I didn't want to believe it, I COULDN'T believe it.

(But then, if that wasn't what just played out...wait...no, there's no way that the Chief retrieved that clock from her attacker; I would have heard it happen if that was the case. So, that means...)

My heart froze in place in my chest and I had to bite my tongue to prevent a scream of terror erupting from my coarse throat as I realised the reality of the situation. I waited with baited breath as I heard the rustling of some kind of paper and another quiet evil cackle before padded footsteps made their way around the office. However, I continued to remain silent. I didn't want that man, that MURDERER, to know that I was still alive in case he returned back to this side of the office, saw my helpless form crumpled on the floor and decided to finish me off.

Just like he did with the Chief...

_(N-No, stop it! Stop thinking about it; you'll only make it worse!)_

As the office door slammed shut and the sound of the man's footsteps disappeared, I came back to life, relieved to be able to safely create noise, however small, once again. I shook my head as hard as I could muster and quickly lifted it a few centimetres from the floor and let it drop limply back down, colliding suddenly with office carpet in a desperate attempt to rid my mind of any thoughts of what just happened. It only helped very little however, as whenever I tried to avert my attention away from the woman barely breathing across the room, her raspy breaths always brought me back and made me panic again. And with absolutely nothing else to occupy my mind with in my current position, I didn't have a choice but to listen to her.

Her uneven breaths as she grasped to her last strands of life. It was all that could be heard in the room, apart from the gradually ticking clock on the wall, which contrasted greatly with Mia's wavering, unsteady gasps.

It was because of this lack of noise that a larger impact was made when the breathing suddenly stopped.

After around a minute, I couldn't hear any strained breaths anymore no matter how hard I listened. It seemed that...it was all over. I closed my eyes, feeling them starting to prickle with tears.

_(My boss is dead, she's just been killed right in front of me, and what good did I do? Absolutely none. Some employee I am.)_

I sniffled slightly to myself as I thought about how useless I had been to ensuring my boss's survival. I hated myself for letting her die like that; I should have done more! She didn't deserve what she got and, for a moment, I even wished that I would have died in her place; I deserved it more than she did, after all.

"B-Be...ugh...B-Becs?"

_(Th-That voice...)_

I could barely make it out but a muffled, raspy voice that could only be Mia's reached my weakened ears from across the room. Confused, I snapped my head back up and called out in response.

"Ch-Chief? Chief, can you hear me?!" Desperate, I shouted as loud as I could in the direction of her voice. My voice was slightly strained too but not to the extent that hers was. My sudden movement caused pain to return to my shoulder and spine but I tried my hardest to push it out of my mind.

_(That isn't important right now. My boss's life is running out and that matters more to me at the moment than a bit of back pain. Come on Bec, pull yourself together!)_

My throat was dry and coarse after calling her and I tried to ignore it as I awaited her reply. It eventually came after a short pause as she caught her breath and summoned the strength to stutter something back to me.

"Th-that man he w-was...ah...the m-man I was t-telling you and...M-Maya about...R-Redd White...of B-Blue...corp..."

_(Bluecorp...I recognise that name!..)_

Towards the end of her sentence, Mia had to take extra breaths since this conversation was clearly wearing rapidly through her final burst of energy. Her speech got more and more weak and muffled that I could hardly make sense of what she was trying to tell me. But there was one, clear thing that I got from the information she was giving me.

_(The man who came in here tonight and attacked the Chief, was the very man that she had been chasing after all this time! The CEO of that horrid blackmailing organisation!)_

I gasped a little in shock, clutching my shoulder once more with my operational arm as pain rushed through it again. I then did the only the that I could think to do, reassure her. Make sure that she was at ease and comforted as much as possible in such a dire situation.

"Ch-Chief! D-don't worry, help will come for us. We're gonna be ok, y-you'll see!"

My breath caught in my throat as I realised that I had just lied to her. I couldn't physically see her wounds but even I knew from the sound that the impact made and how she was speaking to me that she was severely injured and in a far worse condition than I currently was in. One thing was for certain.

She didn't have long left.

And the Chief herself seemed to know this too as she replied to me in an even croaker voice that made my heart sink in despair.

"B-Becs...pro...mise me. P-promise, ngh!" She made a pained gasp and, even though I couldn't see her, I knew that she was wincing with the effort to hold on for as long as she could. My heart rate quickened significantly.

"Chief? Ch-Chief?!"

No response. I began to panic, my emotions overtaking all logical thoughts.

"Ch-Chief! Chief, answer me!"

However, no matter how hard I shouted, no matter how coarse my throat became, it seems that Mia wasn't coming back. And finally, I couldn't take it anymore. Heartbroken sobs escaped my mouth and my injured body jerked in sync with each one. The pain returned again but I was far past caring anymore. I had held together to keep Mia calm during her last moments but, now that she was gone, I could no longer hold it all in. Around a minute passed before I regained control enough to cease my crying.

Not really knowing what to do now that Mia...was gone, I just laid helplessly behind the office desk trying my very hardest to fight off my weariness and remain conscious. I had to stay awake and make sure that the police knew who killed my boss so that he could be brought to justice by me and my sole remaining co worker, Phoenix Wright. Together, we would make sure that he got what he deserved, I'd guarantee that.

After what felt like an eternity but in reality was only a few minutes, the agonising silence was finally broken by the sound of the office door squeaking open. I breathed a sigh of relief. Help at last. The person gradually entered the office and called out to no one in particular.

"Hello? Is anyone in?"

_(Ok, so it's a girl's voice; that means that it isn't Phoenix or that asshole Redd White making a return. And it sounds familiar too...)_

Footsteps padded across the carpeted floor as she made her way into the separate parts of the office in search of me or my colleagues. I eventually got my voice to work and called out to her in an attempt to lure her to the right place.

"H-Hel...lo?" My voice came out coarse and broken again and I had worn myself out clinging into consciousness but that didn't matter. Pain re-entered my shoulder when I spoke but I didn't care anymore. I had to lead whoever it was over here as soon as I could and I would endure those few seconds of pain to do so.

Her reply was almost immediate. "B-Becky? Is that you?"

_(There's only one person that I know who would call me by that name!)_

"Ma...ya?"

I heard her footsteps quicken upon hearing my response, approaching the doorway of Mia's office.

_(Good. She's going in the right direction now. Oh, why did it have to be Mia's sister to be the first to find her body?! The poor girl's going to be-)_

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek! Sis!"

_(...devastated)_

Her screams echoed off the walls in the office, ringing throughout the whole building. They were closely followed by her mournful sobs, filled with despair and hurt. For the second time tonight, the office was shaken with female cries of pain and sorrow as I picked up the sound of Maya kneeling down beside Mia's body. Directly after, muffled sounds were heard which I presumed to be Maya wrapping her arms around her sister's lifeless corpse.

All that I heard then was her sobs. Continuing, seemingly never ending.

I didn't have the heart to interrupt her and remind her of my situation. Even though the pain in my shoulder hadn't ceased, I couldn't interfere with a moment like this. Maya needed a few minutes with her grief before I shifted her focus onto me. This was more important, or at least it was in my eyes.

However, she was still sobbing when I felt a powerful drowsy feeling come over me. I sensed my consciousness quickly slipping away and was forced to contradict what I had previously told myself to do.

"M-Maya, u-um, a little help n-needed o-over...here."

Her short gasp of surprise and realisation was all I heard before she finally reached my line of vision. When she noticed that all that I was able to see were her purple sandals from where I was collapsed on the floor, she bent down so that I could view her face properly. The poor girl was a mess, bless her. Her pretty face and clothes were tear-strewn, her hair was beginning to fall out and the waterfalls were still cascading from her eyes.

But even still, she managed to pull herself together and reassure me that I was going to be fine, despite the fact that she was clearly fearful for my condition. I wanted to believe what she was telling me, desperately, however doubt was still rooted within me. Maya was in no state or capability to assist me and it didn't look like help was on the way for either of us. All we could do was wait.

Maya was still whispering words of reassurance into my ear when my consciousness finally wore out.

_**A/N: Wow, intense chapter. I really enjoy writing these sorts of chapters, where everything kicks off. I've had this one planned out for a while now as well, which helped massively when writing it. Hope you enjoyed this one. See you guys soon!**_

_**Gaby :)**_


	13. The Aftermath

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Chapter 12

_**A/N: Hey guys, I is back again! Sorry for leaving you like I did last time but I kind of had to (you know, for building tension and all that). Ah well, it's okay as it's finally time to see what happened after Rebecca lost consciousness. So, without further ado, let's dive right back in.**_

It wouldn't stop playing through my mind. It seemed like it was never going to end. Over and over, time and time again, the clock struck and a life was lost. An endless deadly cycle, like a broken record in my head that wouldn't leave or fix itself. And I couldn't seem to find any way to repair it with my own hands. I was stuck, watching the events unfold repeatedly, with absolutely no means of stopping the inevitable. Just like when it actually happened.

The man's evil, demonic cackle rung in my ears, along with the screams of my mentor, both simultaneously getting louder as if trying to outmatch each other. And they wouldn't go away, no matter how hard I tried to force them out of my mind.

Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore.

A long, loud screech poured out of my mouth, the only thing that I could think of that would drown out the noise. I held on for as long as I could, desperate to keep the other noises at bay. It must have been around 15 seconds before I started to feel breathless. And just as I was running short of breath, I felt myself being shaken gently, as if someone was trying to wake me from this nightmare.

_(Finally, some help...thank you...)_

And then, another friendlier voice sounded in the near distance, cutting off all other sounds surrounding me.

"Becs? Becs, can you hear me?! Please wake up!"

They seemed desperate, like they were worried for my safety and felt an intense need to reach me and pull me out of my own mind. And the nickname that they used...could it be-

_(M-Mia? ...Wait, no. That's impossible, she's...no longer here. Therefore, it's gotta be-)_

"Phoenix?"

My eyes gradually slid open to reveal the panicked face of my friend. He was breathing heavily and he had evidently begun to sweat as he regularly did when he was nervous. He was in a right state over something, for certain. He was seated on the right side of the bed that I was propped up on and was clutching my shoulders tightly, indicting that he had been the one to shake me. Beside him was a female nurse, looking to be in her early thirties, who had her hand on mine and seemed to be checking my pulse. Whilst I began to come around, she glanced up and smiled comfortingly, so as not to scare me.

"Hello Miss Moore, it's nice to see that you're awake. How are you feeling?"

I laid for a second and examined myself. My head was beginning to throb painfully with the start of a headache and lightheadedness had settled itself in my weary mind. My left shoulder and back felt stiff with some kind of padded bandaging however I couldn't feel any pain within them or any other part of my body, which relieved me greatly.

"U-um, I'm feeling a little drowsy and I have a bit of a headache but, apart from that, I'm feeling ok...I think."

As I spoke, the nurse noted something down on the cards at the end of my bed before replacing them in their plastic wallet.

"That's good to hear. And don't worry about your headache, that's only natural. We'll give you some painkillers through that needle in your arm that'll help with that."

Upon mention of a needle, I felt my blood run cold. They were one of the few things that truly scared me and it was a weakness that I didn't like to show. I hated showing that I was vulnerable, especially in front of other people, and therefore avoided needles at all costs. And yet now, I was directly next to one in front of one of my closest friends and, even worse, it was actually stuck INSIDE MY BODY. I gulped, pushed the thought out of my mind and took a deep breath.

_(It's okay Bec, all you have to do is not look at it. No probs, right?)_

Solidifying that thought in my head, I focused my eyes onto the nurse in front of my bed, averting my eyes far away from either of my arms, and managed a small smile of gratitude.

"Th-Thank you very much."

"No problem. Well, I'll leave you now so that you can have some time with your-"

The nurse cut herself off and looked at me and Phoenix questioningly as she realised that she didn't know the relationship between us. I opened my mouth to answer but Phoenix jumped in to speak before any words could come out.

"Friend. Colleague and friend."

"Okay then. Well, I'll come to check on you in a little while, alright."

I nodded slightly and widened my smile as the nurse exited the room. I sighed contentedly.

_(Well, it's nice to know that I'm in good care here. And the nurse seems to be kind enough. But, more importantly..)_

As soon as I shifted my eyes to him after the nurse's departure, Phoenix grinned widely in relief, his smile stretching from ear to ear.

"Oh, thank God! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Wh-What? I'm confused..."

"You were screaming just then, really loud. You terrified the life out of me, I-I had no idea what to do, I...I thought you were dying."

At that point, I realised. Even though the other noises were entirely in my mind, my own scream was completely real, the only sound of all three that would have erupted outside of my own head. I must have scared the crap out of poor Phoenix when I suddenly screeched with terror in my sleep, explaining his state when I awoke.

"O-oh. Phoenix, I'm so sorry for giving you a fright."

Surprisingly, he quickly brushed off my apology with a smile and a wave of his hand.

"Hey, it's fine. You had no idea that I was here so there was no way at you could have known that you were scaring me. Besides, it did wake you up and that makes those few seconds worth it."

His smile widened as his eyes met mine again, showing to me his genuine happiness at the fact that I was now awake.

I found his smile to be instantly infectious and suddenly realised that I was equally overjoyed to see him. After all, he had broken me out of my nightmare; his voice had been the one to obliterate all of the others and bring me out of unconsciousness. Without him, I realised, I probably would not have woken up.

"I-I'm happy to see you too. Phoenix...thank you so much for being here for me."

I leaned forward from my seated position to hug my friend in gratitude as I normally would, only to be jolted straight back by an intense pain in my back.

"Argh! You bugger!"

"Becs! B-be careful! You can't move too quickly or you'll hurt yourself."

I fell back into the pillows behind me, contorting my face in pain and holding one hand against the throbbing area in an attempt to soothe it. In an instant, Phoenix was up from his chair and at my side, his hand tentatively placed on my right arm.

"This IS your good arm, right?"

That's when it clicked.

_(Ah, yeah. That's right; I injured my back and left shoulder when I tried to protect Mia. That must be why I'm in the hospital.)_

I nodded in confirmation to Phoenix's question, unable to say a word, as I waited for the pain to cease. A nurse approached my bed to see what was wrong however he quickly moved on once Phoenix told him that he had control of the situation. Besides, there seemed to be another patient who required his services more than me anyway.

As soon as I got my breath back, Phoenix smiled and ventured even closer to my bedside, so close that his legs were touching the cold steel frame. He leant over to me as far as he possibly could, arms outstretched.

"Here, let me come to you."

Slowly, I tilted myself forward to meet his arms, this time feeling only minimal pain, and wrapped my good arm around his neck. Meanwhile, Phoenix's arms carefully slid around my upper back. He held me firmly, but also gently to prevent causing me any more discomfort. For the first time since the previous night, I felt safe, like I could actually relax for a minute instead of being on edge constantly. I had never felt so happy to feel someone hug me. I sighed contentedly as he began to let go of me, gently lowering me back onto my pillows.

"There, better?" Phoenix asked as he seated himself back in his chair and shuffled a little closer to my bed.

I smiled and nodded. "Yes, much. Thank you."

"Heh, no need to thank me."

As silence started to settle over us, I began to think of something else to say in order to break it; I hate silences. I noticed Phoenix's smile fade gradually as he realised that there was a subject that he had to address. He sighed deeply and began to scratch the back of his head as he spoke.

"I arrived just after you lost consciousness, you know."

"W-what? What do you mean?"

He sighed again, clearly reluctant to explain in more detail. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Last night, when I came to meet you guys for food as we arranged, I arrived just after you blacked out. There was a girl there and she was crying near...Mia's body but kept glancing back to her desk for some reason. When I went to check it out, I discovered you, completely out of it, behind the desk. I thought that you were dead too at first but then I saw your chest rising and falling slightly, which was a huge relief. I have no idea what I would have done if I had lost the both of you in the same night."

I looked at him with deep sympathy as he spoke.

_(Poor Phoenix, it must have been horrible for him to see his two colleagues like that. I'm so glad that I was able to hold on for him; if I'd have died too, I would have died hating myself for leaving him behind on his own.)_

He sighed again and took a deep breath before continuing.

"Anyway, I didn't get chance to ask the girl anything before she blacked out too. I laid her on the office sofa before I investigated a little around the Chief's b-body. I didn't get chance to do much before a detective burst in, apparently from a call in the hotel across the street, and arrested the girl because her name was discovered to be written in the Chief's blood on a receipt. Luckily, he quickly dismissed you as a suspect because of your injuries and let me off too after quite a lengthy questioning session. The other detective that came with him brought you to the hospital because she was frightened for your condition. And...that's basically all I know."

I nodded as he finished, taking in every word that he had to say.

"Okay, and the girl was called Maya, right?"

"Yeah, I think that she's the Chief's little sister that we were meant to meet with last night."

I nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, she is. I saw her come in just before I blacked out. She tried to keep me calm whilst we waited for help, bless her. She was really shaken up by the whole thing and yet, SHE was comforting ME. I'm so grateful to her for that."

"Poor girl. And now she's been arrested too." Phoenix inputted with a solemn look on his face.

"Have you been to visit her at the detention centre yet?"

"No, not yet." Phoenix replied. "I came straight to see you; I wanted to check that you were ok before I did. It really worried me, seeing you passed out on the floor like that. So, here I am. Must have been here for about 10 minutes, talking to that nurse about your condition, before you started screaming. And...well, you know what happened after that."

"Well, now that you know I'm...sort of okay, you should go and see her. I can't do it so it'll have to be you. I'm so sorry that you have to do this on your own but, you know, what can you do when you're hospitalised? Trust me, if I could get outta here, I would in a heartbeat."

Phoenix's grin widened. "I know you would. If there was a way, you'd find it."

"Damn right. Finding loopholes is my speciality, as both a prankster and a lawyer." I proclaimed proudly.

Phoenix chuckled a little, prompting me to do the same. It felt nice to finally laugh a little after the events of the previous night. Despite the seriousness of the situation that we were both currently in, we shared those few seconds of joy and silliness and welcomed them willingly; it was something that we both needed, a moment to just forget about the situation. As the laughter started to die down, I came back to my senses.

"Now, off you go. Maya's gonna be worrying about you."

"Okay, as you wish Becs."

He stood from the chair and gave me a mock salute, causing me to giggle again. He beamed one last smile at me before he turned on his heel and headed towards the door. Just before he reached it, I shouted out to him again, remembering something.

"Phoenix?"

"Hm?" He turned to face me as he grabbed the metal door handle.

"Can you say 'hi' to her from me, please? And that I'll be out of here to help as soon as is humanly possible?"

He smiled again warmly as he tugged the door open.

"Will do, Becs."

And, with that, I was alone again.

**_A/N: So, Phoenix is off to see Maya and Becs is hospitalised for the time being. And poor Nick is going solo for the investigating and trials for the time being (but then, you already knew that didn't you?). See you in the next chapter!_**

**_Gaby :)_**


	14. Visiting Maya

**All of the Ace Attorney characters belong to Capcom, not me. I only own Rebecca and a few others**

Chapter 13

**_A/N: Hi! This chapter will be in Phoenix's POV again because, well, Becs can hardly do anything at the moment. Just so you don't get confused. Right, let's get right back to da story!_**

I exited the hospital feeling a strong sense of relief. Becs was still alive, and furthermore, she'd regained consciousness whilst I was there. Although she was currently hospitalised, she was still here with me.

_(At least I'm not totally alone in this, right? Despite the situation, I still need to try to look on the brighter side and remain positive about what's to come. Especially for Maya's sake. If Becs can do it and she's hospitalised, then surely I can.)_

Feeling a sudden sense of strong determination, I nodded to myself, solidifying that thought in my head, and caught the first bus to the detention centre. I had to see her as soon as possible. After asking to see Maya and waiting for a few minutes, she finally appeared in the tiny confined room on the other side of the glass, lead by a prison guard and sat directly across from me on a small stool. She looked so dejected, poor girl, like all of the hope and life had been sucked right out of her. Upon seeing the identity of her visitor, she gasped in surprise, which admittedly shocked me a little too.

"Oh! It's you! The lawyer... G-Good morning."

"Good morning!" I exclaimed, tossing as much enthusiasm as I possibly could into my reply. I had to cheer her up somehow. However, it didn't seem to help; Maya's expression didn't change, not even slightly. I sighed.

_(She looks so tired..)_

"H-How's Becky?"

_(Becky..? Oh, she must mean Becs. Despite her own situation, she's still thinking about Becs, huh...)_

"She's doing fine, you don't need to worry. She's woken up now and seems to be in a stable condition. She'll be out of the hospital as soon as she can. Oh, and she also told me to say 'hi' from her." I informed her, smiling a little in a reassuring manner.

A tiny smile appeared on her face for a split second as she sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness...I'm glad..."

A blanket of silence covered the dull, cramped room as Maya's smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared and she slumped further on the stool. It didn't take her long to move onto a more pressing question, one that I had greatly anticipated.

"Um... Are you going to be my attorney?"

"Well, that's what I wanted to talk to you about..."

I silently thought over my options, quickly deciding on, what I assumed, was the best answer.

_(I'd better give it to her straight...)_

Focussing my attention back onto Maya, I coughed lightly when I realised that her tired gaze had shifted to her own lap. A little startled, her eyes darted back up to meet mine expectantly. Admittedly, this made me a tad nervous for her reaction to what I had to say. Nevertheless, I continued.

"It's up to you."

She seemed a bit taken aback at first, but eventually uttered out a reply.

"Up...to me?"

"Yes, I don't think this is something I should decide. After all, you're the one in trouble here." I explained, not wishing to put any more pressure on her than what she already had.

Maya was silent for a a few seconds. I'm not sure what she was doing but, whatever it was, I didn't interrupt her. She had turned her head away from me slightly, so I assumed she was thinking. After a short while, without looking back at me, she spoke again in the same soft, weak voice, devoid of all hope.

"They're not going to believe me...are they?"

She continued, raising her voice a little.

"Even you, when you found me in the office. You looked at me like I'd done it!"

Her words confused me. I thought back to when I'd walked into the office that night in an attempt to confirm or refute her statement.

_(Did I look at her like that?)_

I couldn't have done. She was sobbing by the body, there's no way she did it. But...the way that I looked at her at the time might have made her think-

"No, no! I never thought..." I spluttered in an attempt to explain that I never suspected her of the murder.

However, unexpectedly, Maya cut me off.

"I-It's okay. I understand."

Then, silence overtook again as Maya and I thought of what to say. To my surprise, Maya spoke before I could. She had a small smile on her face now though; she must have been starting to feel a little better.

"And...I've also heard about you."

"Heard..? Heard what about me?" I asked, taken aback and a little confused about her choice of conversational subject.

"I...was talking to my sister on the phone the other day...

She then went on to describe a conversation that she had with Mia the night after my first trial. I was surprised to learn that she had praised my efforts and seemed to see a lot of potential in me. I'll admit, it was pretty heartwarming and relieving that my boss had thought that I did a good job. It made me feel pretty proud of myself.

That was...until the second half of the phone call came around.

Maya then explained that the Chief had said that I needed a little more time and experience before I could be trusted to defend her little sister. She even said that I'd probably get a guilty verdict. It wasn't that she didn't have a point, I'd only had one official trial after all, but that didn't stop her words from stealing away what little confidence I currently had left. I was fully aware that this situation was entirely in my hands; Mia was gone, Maya was in detention and poor Becs was hospitalised and in no state to defend. I knew that I was the only one in any state to get us all out of this. However, I was far from confident in myself. I mean, the Chief had said it herself, I needed more experience to be able to take on a trial like this.

If I had Becs by my side, I wouldn't be feeling like this. After all, she has two years of experience and cases under her belt. Me though? A single trial. That's it. I hadn't even investigated properly yet. I knew that I couldn't voice any of this to Maya, the last thing she needed at this point was more reasons to worry. And talking about this conversation she had with her sister had seemed to perk her up a little. She was grinning as she finished off her story.

"That's what she said!"

I was silent. I couldn't show her any signs of what I was thinking, I couldn't let her worry. As subtly as I could, I attempted to hide my feelings from the girl sat across from me. Unfortunately, my efforts were in vain as she seemed to catch on pretty quickly.

"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to trouble you..."

"No, it's okay. It's true, I guess." I admitted, rubbing the back of my neck nervously, in an attempt to rub off my worries as meaningless and petty, for both Maya and myself. However, instead, my frustration with my own inexperience only grew. "But...at the same time, I can't just sit and watch! When I think of the person who did this to Mia..."

I trailed off, realising that what I was saying probably wasn't making Maya feel any better. She had gone silent again and was staring down at her lap, apparently trying to hide the fact that she was dangerously close to crying. Glancing back up at me, her eyes were sparkling with tears.

"I know..."

Deciding that this topic had gotten too depressing, I quickly shifted the conversation on to something different.

"There's something I've been wanting to ask you..."

Maya seemed equally eager to move on, as she wiped the tears away with the sleeve of her purple jacket (if I could call it that) with surprising speed, took a deep breath and met my eyes once more.

"Yes?"

"What's with that outfit?" I inquired, gesturing to her unique clothes. Upon following my gaze and realising what I meant, she looked back up at me with a small grin on her face.

"Oh, this? This is what all acolytes wear. It's my uniform, you could say." She replied, as if she had just given a totally ordinary answer to my question.

"A-Acolytes? Like people in religious training? What is it you do?" I couldn't help but be taken aback a little. Never would I have thought that she would come out with a response like that and, being quite honest, my curiosity was urging me to find out more.

"Oh! It's nothing strange, really! I'm a spirit medium. ...In training."

"A s-spirit medium?!" I exclaimed, unable to hide my surprise.

_(I'm pretty sure that qualifies as strange.)_

"So you're an acolyte. A, er, medium-in-training." I continued, still engulfed with shock.

"That's right. The Fey family, especially the women, have always been very sensitive to the spirit world." Maya smiled at me reassuringly, seemingly eager to tell me about her unique abilities. As she spoke though, something stuck out to me in what she said and I felt compelled to ask about it.

"Wait a second, you said the 'Fey Family'? So, Mia was into this stuff too?" I inquired, edging my seat a little closer to the glass pane separating us.

"Of course! She left the mountain to 'follow her career', she said. Her powers were first class too!" Maya grinned.

_(I...I had no idea.)_

"Hmm..."

_(A spirit medium, huh? But...wouldn't that mean that-)_

"Wait...!" I exclaimed, an idea suddenly entering my head.

"What?" Maya asked, eyes wide in shock from my sudden outburst.

"So, you're a real, honest-to-goodness spirit medium? With E.S.P and all that?" I asked. I had to know if this would work.

"Yes...in training."

"Well, can't you contact Mia's spirit, then? We can just ask her who killed her!" I deduced, a welcome feeling of relief spreading across my chest. I grinned with pride and triumph. Finally, I had some kind of solution to this. Maybe I wouldn't have to stand in court on my own after all!

Maya's face, however, brought me back to reality.

Unlike me, she wasn't suddenly overjoyed and hopeful that the plan that I had just formulated would be the solution to her predicament. Instead, her already faint smile vanished even further and she hung her head once again. The look on her face caused my own grin to fade a little as I tried to figure out what could be wrong. Confused, I waited for her to explain.

"I-I'm sorry... I'm still in training. I couldn't do something on that level..."

Of course.

_(Hmm...I thought that would be too easy.)_

Sighing and figuring that the current topic had become worn, I decided to move on to another matter, information about last night. This was something that I was seriously lacking at the moment and would certainly require if I was to free Maya.

"Could you tell me about the day of the murder?"

"Yes!" Maya exclaimed with a surprising amount of enthusiasm. It seemed that she was willing to cooperate with me and tell me what she knows, despite the fact that it would probably hurt her to do so. I must admit, I was impressed with how strong she was being; it was truly admirable. "Let's see...that morning, I got a call from my sister. She wanted me to hold onto a piece of evidence for an upcoming trial." She began.

"Evidence?"

"Yes. That clock shaped like 'The Thinker'."

_(The one Larry made...)_ Again? What could have possibly happened now to make that statue...clock...thing involved in another case?

"How could that have been evidence in a case?"

"Um, right, she said something about that..."

There was a short pause as I waited for Maya to recall what Mia had told her. Within seconds, she had an answer for me.

"I remember! Do you want to hear it in her own voice?"

"H-Her own voice?!" I spluttered, completely clueless as to how Mia could speak to us from beyond the grave. Well, besides through channeling...

"Yes. I'm pretty sure our conversation is on my cell phone."

"You recorded it!" I exclaimed, thankful that I now had some kind of evidence and hopefully some foundations for Maya's defence.

"Yeah! I forgot how to delete those things." She said with a small giggle of embarrassment.

"So, you say you have a conversation with your sister on your cell phone? Let's hear it!"

"Right!" Maya reached into a pocket in her outfit and drew out her empty hand a second later, shock written all over her face as she realised her phone wasn't there. She felt the pocket on the opposite side frantically before sighing in defeat, seeming to remember what happened to it. "Oh! I just remembered: that detective took my cell phone. Sorry."

"Oh right." I tried not to sound too disappointed.

_(Of course...)_

"Next time I see Detective Gumshoe, I'll ask him for it." I offered.

"I'll write you a note so you don't forget, okay?"

"Sure, thanks." I smiled as she wrote out a quick message on a scrap of paper and passed it through the gap beneath the pane of glass separating us.

Silence took over again as I folded the note and slipped it into my suit pocket.

"Um...!" Maya suddenly uttered, eyes widening and staring right at me as if she had just remembered something pressing that she had to tell me.

"Huh? Something the matter?"

"Um...I was wondering, could I ask you a favour?"

I was silent, simply looking at her questioningly. When I realised she was waiting for a response, I gestured with my hands for her to continue.

"This is the address of a famous lawyer." she began as she slipped another piece of paper under the glass. I examined it quickly to see that it was, as she said, an address for a guy called Marvin Grossberg. I skimmed over the rest of the words, scribbled hurriedly in the Chief's familiar writing, as she continued. "My sister gave me this a long time ago. She said if I was ever in trouble, I should call him. And, well, I'm in trouble. Do you think you could go and ask him to represent me?"

_(Hmm...)_

She's already essentially explained why she won't accept me as her lawyer, because of inexperience. And...I completely understand that. It hurts a little to think about but I can understand why she thinks that way. It feels odd, being a lawyer myself, to go and ask someone else to represent Maya in her stead but I have to respect her decision. It would be immoral and just plain rude to refuse to take on her request.

"Sure, why not. I'll go ask."

"Thank you so much!" The relief was clear on her face. However, it quickly turned back into negativity as her head tilted back down to her lap. "I have no one else to turn to..."

Her reply took me a little by surprise. Surely she had other family aside from her sister..?

"Say, what about your parents?"

A long silence followed my question. Maya was unresponsive, her expression vaguely pained, however it was clear that she was trying her hardest to hide it from me. Slightly embarrassed, I realised I had struck a nerve and brought up a sensitive topic for her. Not wishing to hurt her or make her feel awkward, I quickly moved the conversation forward.

"I...I see. Don't worry, leave it to me."

"Thank you! The trial's tomorrow...at 10:00."

"W-What?! Tomorrow?!" I spluttered, taken completely by shock since I'd never expected the trial to be coming up this soon.

"Tomorrow." Maya said again, confirming what I had just heard her say and solidifying that fact in my head.

"What if this guy refuses?!" I asked, panic beginning to set in.

"They told me that if I don't find one, the state will pick an attorney to defend me." Maya told me, clearly attempting to calm me down a bit. And, I must admit, it did work a little. When I asked my next question, my tone was noticeably softer.

"When will that happen?"

"They're giving me until 4:00 this afternoon."

Immediately, I looked down at my watch and gasped. Time was running out; it was only a matter of hours before the detention centre was closed off to visitors.

_(And visiting hours are almost up...I'd better hurry!)_

"Right, I'll be back!" I proclaimed with determination as a rose from my seat, smiled widely at Maya one last time (with her giving a smaller one in return) and exited the room.

Taking a deep breath, I shifted my focus to my next destination, trying as hard as I could to push all the worry and doubt out of my mind.

_(Ok, next stop, the office! Hang in there Maya, I won't be long.)_

_**A/N: Yes, that's right. I have returned to the world of writing once again! I'm SO sorry for being away for so long but I'm going to try as hard as I can to carry on writing and start updating regularly again. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter and expect more in the future!**_

_**Gaby :)**_


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